Synthesis and formation mechanism of HfB_(2) ultrafine powders with low oxygen via flocculating settling assisted process and carbo/borothermal reduction

In this study,ultrafine HfB_(2) powders with low oxygen were synthesized by a flocculating settling process which yielded ceramic precursors and subsequent carbo/borothermal reduction of the precursors.The liquid phase precursor method can achieve uniform mixing of components at the molecular level through multiple complexation reactions,and then realize the carbo/borothermal reduction reaction at a lower temperature to obtain ultrapure HfB2 powders.The as-resulted quasi-spherical HfB2 powders under the optimum conditions(atomic molar ratio M:B:C=1:2.8:10)calcined at 1500°C for 1 h have an average particle size of 205 nm and an oxygen content of 0.097 wt.%.Detailed analysis of the phase evolution of precursors shows that the formation of HfB2 particles is a mass diffusion mode from the external to internal HfO_(2)cores.We reveal that below 1300°C,HfC is not an intermediate product of HfB2 powder during the transition of precursors.Instead,HfC was formed as a by-product at high temperatures in the carbo/borothermal reduction process.The proposed formation mechanism of HfB_(2) is completely different from the traditional two-step transformation method.After the sintering of the ultrafine powders,the HfB_(2) ceramics show a relative density of 96.1%and superior mechanical properties compared to other works.Furthermore,by simply replacing the initial metal source,chlorinated group IV and V transitional metals(Ti,Zr,Ta,Nb)can also convert into high-purity and ultrafine diborides.This work shows that flocculating settling assisted carbo/borothermal reduction has potential in lot size production of various high-purity and ultrafine boride powders.