Boron carbide green sheet processed by environmental friendly non-aqueous tape casting

An environmental friendly non-aqueous tape casting process for producing boron carbide green sheet has been discussed in the present paper. An ethanol-based formula was developed by using castor oil, single-oleic acid glycerol, polyvinyl butyral and di-n-butyl phthalate as the dispersant, wetting agents, binder and plasticizer, respectively. The influence of binding system on rheological behavior of the slurry was studied. In addition, the effects of drying condition, milling time and binding systems on green sheet were also investigated. The results indicate that the optimal composition of the boron carbide slurry is 47.0 wt.% boron carbide powder with particles size of 3.5 μm, 2.0 wt.% dispersant, 2.0 wt.% wetting agent, 39.0 wt.% EtOH, 5.0 wt.% binder and 5.0 wt.% plasticizer. The green sheet with high-quality can be obtained by the combination of the three-stage milling method and drying process conducted at room temperature without air convection. The density and tensile strength of the boron carbide green sheet are 1.64 ± 0.06 g/cm3 and 2.66 MPa, respectively.