Mechanochemical synthesis of nanocrystalline aluminium boride (AlB<inf>12</inf>)

Low-temperature synthesis of aluminium boride (AlB12) powders by mechanochemical synthesis of Al and B powder blend has been carried out. The influence of milling time on the phase formation temperature and annealing time of AlB12 was investigated. X-ray diffraction of the milled and annealed powder samples revealed the formation of AlB2 without any oxide phases. AlB12 powder was synthesized at a significantly low temperature of 1030 K. The processed AlB12 powder was nanocrystalline in nature confirmed by transmission electron microscopy investigations. It has been shown that mechanochemical synthesis could be an attractive route for the synthesis of borides at low temperatures.