Synthesis of Cubic Boron Nitride under Relatively Lower Pressure and Lower Temperature via Chemical Reaction

Abstract In this paper, we present a new cubic boron nitride synthesis method via introduction of highly reactive nitrogen and boron atoms generated from chemical reactions as the raw materials of cubic boron nitride, so the system pressure and temperature are reduced significantly compared with the traditional phase transformation method at super high-pressure and high-temperature, and then the production cost of cubic boron nitride can be reduced greatly and the equipment service life can be extended significantly. Experiments have shown that by this method the cBN can be synthesized with high yield at pressures as low as 2.5 GPa and temperatures as low as 450°C. Compared with the conventional phase transformation method, the pressure decreases by about 50% and the temperature decreases by about 64%. Analyses have shown that the crystal structure of the cBN synthesized is perfect and the impurity content is extremely low.