This thesis is a theoretical study of configurationally disordered icosahedral boronrich solids, in particular boron carbides, using density functional theory and alloy theory. The goal is to resolve discrepancies, regarding the properties of boron carbides, between experiments and previous theoretical calculations which have been a controversial issue in the field of icosahedral boron-rich sol...

Over the last two decades, many studies have contributed to improving our understanding of brittle failure mechanisms boron carbide and provided a road map for inhibiting underlying mechanical response carbide. This paper provides review design processing approaches utilized address amorphization transgranular fracture carbide, which are mainly based on what we found through 9 years work in fie...

Boron carbide nanowires with uniform carbon nitride coating layers were synthesized on a silicon substrate using a simple thermal process. The structure and morphology of the as-synthesized nanowires were characterized using x-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy. A correlation between the surface smoothness of the nanowire sidewal...

Smokes are used on the battlefield for signaling, for marking targets, and for screening troop movements. Many high-performance compositions are toxic or hazardous, while non-toxic alternatives offer sub-par performance. The environmentally benign compositions described herein use boron carbide as a pyrotechnic fuel to produce thick clouds of white smoke. Experimentation and thermodynamic model...

The influence of boron carbide and tungsten on the apparent porosity, density, coercive force, hardness microstructure metal matrix com