YANG Liangliang ¹, XIE Zhipeng ^{1, 2}, LIU Weiliang ¹, WEI Hongkang ¹, ZHAO Lin ¹, SONG Ming ¹

(1. Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen 333403, Jiangxi, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of New Ceramic and Fine Processing,

Department of Materials, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

Abstract: Boron carbide ceramics are typical structural materials with excellent comprehensive properties, due to their high hardness, high elastic modulus, excellent resistance to wear and corrosion, as well as other advantages. The densification of boron carbide ceramicscan be realized by effective additives, appropriate temperature and pressure to improve their mechanical behaviors. Thus, the sintering and densification are the key steps in the entire preparing process. Here, the basic principle and routes of the sintering of boron carbide ceramics are summarized, and their applications in the field of armor, nuclear power, and abrasives are presented.

Key words: boron carbide; densification; additives; performance and application