Disclosed herein are applications of metal borides and metal boride composites. Such applications include uses as materials for neutron shielding, radiation shielding, electromagnetic shielding, physical shielding such as armor, and wear resistance to mechanical and thermal cycling.

The invention describes a method for producing ternary and binary ceramic powders and their thermal spraying capable of manufacturing thermal sprayed coatings with superior properties. Powder contain at least 30% by weight ternary ceramic, at least 20% by weight binary molybdenum borides, at least one of the binary borides of Cr, Fe, Ni, W and Co and a maximum of 10% by weight of nano and submicro-sized boron nitride. The primary crystal phase of the manufactured thermal sprayed coatings from these powders is a ternary ceramic, while the secondary phases are binary ceramics. The coatings have extremely high resistance against corrosion of molten metal, extremely thermal shock resistance and superior tribological properties at low and at high temperatures.

A cermet material, including a plurality of ceramic particles defining a ceramic portion; and a plurality of high magnetic permeability metallic particles distributed throughout the ceramic portion to define an admixture. The ceramic particles and the metallic particles are generally the same size and shape. Each respective high magnetic permeability metallic particle has a magnetic permeability of at least 0.0001 H/m. The ceramic particles are selected from the group consisting of zirconia, yttria stabilized zirconia, zirconia toughened alumina, alumina, gadolinium oxide, TiB.sub.2, ZrB.sub.2, HfB.sub.2, TaB.sub.2, TiC, Cr.sub.3C.sub.2, and combinations thereof.

The presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to hexagonal osmium boride, OsB.sub.2, and methods of producing the same. In one non-limiting embodiment, hexagonal OsB.sub.2 is produced by mechanochemical synthesis of osmium and boron in a high energy ball mill.

A ceramic component is provided that includes a silicon-based layer comprising a silicon-containing material (e.g., a silicon metal and/or a silicide) and a boron-doped refractory compound, such as about 0.001% to about 85% by volume of the boron-doped refractory compound (e.g., about 1% to about 60% by volume of the boron-doped refractory compound). A coated component is also provided that includes a CMC component defining a surface; a bond coating directly on the surface of the CMC component, with the bond coating comprises a silicon-containing material and a boron-doped refractory compound (e.g., about 0.1% to about 25% of the boron-doped refractory compound); a thermally grown oxide layer on the bond coating; and an environmental barrier coating on the thermally grown oxide layer.

The present invention relates to methods and apparatuses for forming high temperature ceramic powders. A method of producing high temperature ceramic powders according to an embodiment of the present invention can include preparing a solution, atomizing the solution, providing a gas and carrying the atomized solution into a furnace via the gas, evaporating the solvent, precipitating and drying the solutes, performing a thermolysis (or pyrolysis) reaction, and performing a carbothermal reduction reaction (CTR) in situ, and collecting product particles after they exit from the furnace.

Disclosed is a method of fabricating a preceramic polymer for making a ceramic material including a metal boride. The method includes providing a starting preceramic polymer that includes a silicon-containing backbone chain and first and second reactive side groups extending off of the silicon-containing backbone chain, reacting a boron-containing material with the first reactive side group to bond a boron moiety to the silicon-containing backbone chain, and reacting a metal-containing material with the second reactive side group to bond a metal moiety to the silicon-containing backbone chain such that the preceramic polymer includes the boron moiety and the metal moiety extending as side groups off of the silicon-containing backbone chain. Also disclosed is a preceramic polymer composition and a metal-boride-containing ceramic article fabricated from the preceramic polymer.

The invention describes a method for producing ternary and binary ceramic powders and their thermal spraying capable of manufacturing thermal sprayed coatings with superior properties. Powder contain at least 30% by weight ternary ceramic, at least 20% by weight binary molybdenum borides, at least one of the binary borides of Cr, Fe, Ni, W and Co and a maximum of 10% by weight of nano and submicro-sized boron nitride. The primary crystal phase of the manufactured thermal sprayed coatings from these powders is a ternary ceramic, while the secondary phases are binary ceramics. The coatings have extremely high resistance against corrosion of molten metal, extremely thermal shock resistance and superior tribological properties at low and at high temperatures.

The presently disclosed and/or claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to hexagonal osmium boride, OsB.sub.2, and methods of producing the same. In one non-limiting embodiment, hexagonal OsB.sub.2 is produced by mechanochemical synthesis of osmium and boron in a high energy ball mill.

A method for producing a metal detectible ceramic, including mixing a first amount of ceramic material with a second metal oxide to define an admixture, forming the admixture into a green body, sintering the green body to yield a densified body, wherein the densified body has a plurality of metallic particles distributed therethrough, and wherein the densified body is detectible by a metal detector.