Kavli Affiliate: Zhiting Tian
| First 5 Authors: Abhijit Biswas, Peter Serles, Gustavo A. Alvarez, Jesse Schimpf, Michel Hache
| Summary:
Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) is a brittle ceramic with a layered structure,
however, recent experiments have suggested that inter-layer structural
engineering could be key to new structural and functional properties. Here we
report the scalable bulk synthesis of high-density crystalline h-BN solids, by
using high-temperature spark plasma sintering (SPS) of h-BN powders, which show
high values of mechanical strength, ductility, dielectric constant, thermal
conductivity, and exceptional neutron radiation shielding capability. Through
exhaustive characterizations we reveal that SPS induces non-basal plane
crystallinity, twisting of layers, and facilitates inter-grain fusion with a
high degree of in-plane alignment across macroscale dimensions, resulting in
near-theoretical density and improved properties. Our findings highlight the
importance of material design, via new approaches such as layer twisting and
interlayer interconnections, to create novel ceramics with properties that
could go beyond their intrinsic limits.
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