Diboride Explained

Diboride may refer to:

• Aluminium diboride, compound of aluminium and boron
• Hafnium diboride, ultra-high temperature ceramic composed of hafnium and boron
• Magnesium diboride, inexpensive and simple superconductor
• Rhenium diboride, synthetic superhard material
• Titanium diboride, extremely hard ceramic compound composed of titanium and boron
• Zirconium diboride, highly covalent refractory ceramic material with a hexagonal crystal structure

Due to their technological importance, refractory and electrically conductive diborides (TMB₂) formed by Group 4–6 transition metals (TM): Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W are attracting increasing research interest as thin film coatings in many potential applications.^[1] The family of boron-containing compounds, thin films and bulk, is larger than TMB₂ as boron interacts with many of the elements in the periodic table to form a variety of compounds with different properties. Examples are monoborides and covalently bonded borides with high hardness, like aluminum magnesium boride (BAM) with the composition AlMgB₁₄, and superconducting MgB₂. Application examples are as high-temperature electrodes, advanced nuclear fission and fusion reactors, molten metal environment, refractory crucibles, thermocouple protection tubes in steel baths and aluminum reduction cells, reinforcement fibers, solar power, aerospace, as well as in armor applications.

Notes and References

1. Review of Transition-Metal Diboride Thin FilmsM. Magnuson, L. Hultman, and H. Högberg; Vacuum (invited review) 196, 110567, (2022).