Mechanical and electrical properties of B4C–CrB2 ceramics fabricated by liquid phase sintering

B4C based ceramic composites with additions of CrB2 up to 25 mol% were fabricated by hot pressing at 2050 °C with a low applied load of 5 MPa. The CrB2 addition enhanced the densification of B4C due to the formation of CrB2 –B4C eutectic liquid. Both a high strength of 684 MPa and a modest fracture toughness of 3.2 MPa m1/2 were obtained for the B4C– 22.5 mol% CrB2 specimen. Furthermore, the electrical conductivity was increased remarkably for the specimens with more than 15 mol% CrB2, which was attributed to the formation of three-dimensional network of the electrically conductive CrB2 phase.