Preparation and characterization of sintered B/MgB2 as heat release material

Sintered B/MgB2 (S-B/MgB2) was originally prepared by introducing Mg to B and sintering the system under appropriate temperature and atmosphere. During the sintering process, B2O3 layer was depleted by Mg reduction and the product was characterized by XRD and SEM methods. The XRD results show that the constituents of S-B/MgB2 are B, B6O, MgB 2 and MgO. Coupled with EDS, it is noticed that Mg has a desirable distribution in the particles, indicating a uniform configuration of S-B/MgB2. TG-DSC method was applied to verify the microstructure and study the oxidation processes of S-B/MgB2. It is noticed that S-B/MgB2 enjoys a high thermal stability due to the protection from MgB2/MgO shell. In addition to that, because of the absence of B2O3 layer and increased active B content, the length and rate of the oxidation reaction increase, resulting in a boost of reaction ratio and heat release in TG-DSC. Accompanied with theoretical calculation and oxygen bomb test results, it appears that S-B/MgB2 also enjoys a heat release which is not evidently affected by external conditions. Therefore, S-B/MgB2 has a promising future as heat release material. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.