Ternary metal borocarbides, such as Al3BC3, have been considered promising candidates for lightweight
structural components used at high temperatures. Many researchers reported that the addition of excess B4C is required to synthesize monophasic Al3BC3 due to vaporization of boron during the heating process. However, the formation mechanism has not yet been clarified in detail. In this study, we successfully synthesized monophasic Al3BC3 using Al, C and B4C powders at a stoichiometric ratio through a conventional solid-state reaction method. The result of elemental analysis indicated that the chemical composition of the obtained
Al3BC3 was Al:B = 3.00:1.00. The results of Rietveld refinement and microstructural observations clearly indicated that Al3BC3 has a trigonal structure (P3̅c1) with a = 0.5909 nm and c = 1.5907 nm.
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