International.
Researchers from Drexel University, Linköping University in Sweden and Imperial College London produced a layered aluminum boride whose unique behavior at high temperatures keeps it one step ahead of nature's slow march toward chemical degradation at high temperatures.
Their durability is so perceived that borides are used as coatings for surfaces that must survive the harshest environments – from the inside of combustion engines to cutting tools for hard metals. But, according to Michel Barsoum, PhD, a distinguished professor in Drexel's College of Engineering, who is the lead author of the research recently published in Scientific Reports, better borides can be made.
"This discovery is very important because it is the first example in human history of a metal boride transition that is quite resistant to oxidation," said Barsoum, who heads the Drexel MAX/MXene Research Group in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.
To make the boride material, called aluminum molybdenum boride (MoAlB), Barsoum and his team combined a molybdenum boron trellis with a double layer of aluminum to produce a material that is tough enough to resist oxidation at extremely high temperatures. The key to this remarkable feature is the nanolaminate structure material with alternating layers of molybdenum boride and aluminum.
After testing, the group also found that the material retains its high conductivity at elevated temperatures. Its melting point has not yet been determined, but preliminary results have shown that it is above 1,400 degrees Celsius. Barsoum speculates that because of these promising results, his team's work has now laid the groundwork for the development of ultra-high melting point borides that are also resistant to oxidation.
Data Source Provider: Drexel University
