A facile pathway to prepare molybdenum boride powder from molybdenum and boron carbide

Molybdenum boride is an ideal hard and wear-resistant material. In this study, a new method is proposed for preparing molybdenum boride, by which Mo first reacts with B₄C to generate the mixture of molybdenum boride and C, and then the product is decarburized by molten Ca to generate CaC₂. Pure molybdenum boride could be obtained after acid leaching to remove the by-product CaC₂. According to the experimental and thermodynamic calculation results, it is concluded that the single-phase MoB could be successfully prepared, while Mo₂B, Mo₂B₅, and MoB₄ could not be synthesized by this method. Moreover, it was found that the particle size of finally prepared MoB is determined by particle size of raw Mo powder. The residual carbon content of the product could be decreased to 0.10 wt% after first reaction at 1673 K for 6 hours and then decarburization reaction at 1673 K for 6 hours.