The Rare-Earth Hexaboride Based Composites

Rare-Earth metal hexaborides (REB6 ) can be composited with some kind of ceramics, such as SiC, MgO, Carbon Nanotube, and Alumina. These types of composites can show excellent mechanical, optical, and thermionic properties. For example, SiC ceramics have high condensation behavior, high corrosion resistance, high thermal shock resistance, and high hardness properties; MgO ceramics have high fire resistance, high thermal conductivity, and low electrical conductivity properties; Carbon nanotubes have high optical and mechanical properties and Al2O3 ceramics have high abrasion and corrosion resistance and low density. The sizes of these materials are also significant as nano, and micro-sized ceramic materials have different properties when forming a composite with REB6 or any materials.