b'Boron Suboxide andAdvancing spark plasma sintering toward industrial scale by increasing Refractory Transition Metalunderstanding of the sintering kinetics and fundamental phenomena.Boride Fabrication by SparkB oron suboxide and transition metal borides, such as tungsten tetraboride, were identified by several U.S. Department of Defense branches as PlasmaSintering potential next-generation ceramic armor materials. These materials have a range of outstanding physical and chemical properties applicable to armor, such as a high bulk and shear moduli, hardness, thermal stability, and chemical inertness all while maintaining relatively low densities. These attributes are essential to improve on existing armor systems performance and improve the overall compatibility with the users of these armor systems. The challenges with large-scale synthesis and TOTAL APPROVED AMOUNT:conventional consolidation techniques have, until recently, impeded the pathway to $1,492,958 over 3 years utilization of these materials in practical armor systems.PROJECT NUMBER:This project focused on utilizing SPS methods to determine the sintering 18A12-116 characteristics and optimum sintering parameters for boron suboxide and tungsten PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR:tetraboride. SPS has long shown great promise for ceramics and refractory materials Joshua Kane traditionally considered difficult or impossible to fabricate on an industrial scale. The kinetics of the process, however, are convoluted and difficult to ascertain, making CO-INVESTIGATORS: the industrial adaptation of the technique limited. This project designed and built Henry Chu, INL specialized SPS systems, including a miniature SPS, to allow experiments involving Jeffrey Anderson, INL advanced in situ radiography while operating the systems. These experiments Thomas Lillo, INL enabled the first ever SPS experiments with active interrogation to deconvolute the Troy Holland, INL coupled internal (e.g., electrical, mechanical, and thermal) phenomena under SPS to COLLABORATORS: understand the correct sintering kinetics. The result will enable the advancement of Brookhaven National Laboratory SPS science and allow the process to be optimized for scale-up.Carl Zeiss Microscopy TALENT PIPELINE:Oak Ridge National Laboratory Amanda Smolinski, student at Idaho State UniversityJeffrey Andersons, student at Pennsylvania State UniversityRobert Mach, student at University of Texas El Paso(a) Three-dimensional rending of SPS experiment with particles between two carbon electrodes. (b) Image of fabricated pillar.114'