Abstract
An amorphous boron–carbon–nitrogen (a-BCN) phase was synthesized by ball milling of a mixture of hexagonal BN (h-BN) and graphite with a nominal composition of (BN)0.5C0.5 in atomic ratio. Electron energy-loss spectroscopy studies indicated that the bonding of the a-BCN is in an sp 2 configuration and the mixing between the BN and the C species was achieved at a nanometer scale, but the a-BCN phase was more likely a mechanical mixture rather than a chemical mixture. High-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) treatment at 7.7 GPa and 2300 °C of the a-BCN phase resulted in complete segregation of the carbon and BN species, forming a nanocrystalline composite material comprising cubic BN (c-BN), amorphous carbon, and turbostratic graphite. The grain size of the c-BN phase was about 70 nm. No mutual solubilities between c-BN and carbon were found, and the two different species (C and BN) were well separated. An epitaxial relationship, i.e., the (0002) planes of graphite being parallel to the (111) planes of c-BN, was also found. The formation of ternary BCN phases was never found in the present experiment. Our experimental results also suggest the possibility of synthesizing c-BN grains encapsulated with graphite under controlled HPHT conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
A.Y. Liu, R.M. Wentzcovitch, and M.L. Cohen, Phys. Rev. B 39, 1760 (1989).
S. Nakano, M. Akaishi, T. Sasaki, and S. Yamaoka, Chem. Mater. 6, 2246 (1994).
Y. Kakudate, M. Yoshida, S. Usuba, H. Yokoi, S. Fujiwara, M. Kawaguchi, K. Sato, and T. Sawai, Trans. Mater. Res. Soc. Jpn. B 14, 1447 (1994).
E. Knittle, R.B. Kaner, R. Jeanloz, and M.L. Cohen, Phys. Rev. B 51, 12149 (1995).
T. Komatsu, M. Nomura, Y. Kakudate, and S. Fujiwara, J. Mater. Chem. 6, 1799 (1996).
A.R. Badzian, Mater. Res. Bull. 16, 1385 (1981).
T. Sasaki, M. Akaishi, S. Yamaoka, Y. Fujiki, and T. Oikawa, Chem. Mater. 5, 695 (1993).
V.L. Solozhenko, V.Z. Turkevich, and T. Sato, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 80, 3229 (1997).
B. Yao, L. Liu, and W.H. Su, J. Mater. Res. 13, 1753 (1998).
J.Y. Huang, T. Taniguchi, and S. Horiuchi, p 327–330 in 5th NIRIM International Symposium on Advanced Materials (ISAM’98), NIRIM Tsukuba, Japan, March 1998.
J.Y. Huang and Yuntian T. Zhu, Defects and Diffusion Forum— Defects and Diffusion in Ceramics—An Annual Retrospective III, edited by D.J. Fisher (Scitec Publications, Zuerich-Uetikon, Switzerland, 2000), pp. 186–187.
S. Horiuchi, J.Y. Huang, L.L. He, J.F. Mao, and T. Taniguchi, Philos. Mag. A 78, 1065 (1998).
J.Y. Huang, H. Yasuda, and H. Mori, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 83, 403 (2000).
J. Thomas, Jr., N.E. Weston, and T.E. O’Connor, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 84, 4619 (1963).
J.Y. Huang, Acta Mater. 47, 1801 (1999).
S.D. Berger, D.R. McKenzie, and P.J. Martin, Philos. Mag. Lett. 57, 285 (1988).
R.F. Egerton, Electron energy-loss spectroscopy in the electron microscope, 2nd ed. (Plenum Press, New York, 1996), p. 442.
M. Wibbelt, H. Kohl, and Ph. Kohler-Redlich, Phys. Rev. B 59, 11739 (1999).
Y.F. Zhang, Y.H. Tang, C.S. Lee, I. Bello, and S.T. Lee, Diamond Relat. Mater. 8, 610 (1999).
M. Gasgnier, H. Szwarc, and A. Ronez, J. Mater. Sci. 35, 3003 (2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, J., Zhu, Y.T. & Mori, H. Structure and phase characteristics of amorphous boron–carbon–nitrogen under high pressure and high temperature. Journal of Materials Research 16, 1178–1184 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2001.0162
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2001.0162