Preparation of 6061 Borated Al alloy by hot isostatic pressing (HIP)

Neutron absorber for wet/dry spent fuel storage applications are used in plate or sheet form. Neutron absorber materials are comprised of a chemical form of the neutron absorber nuclide and a matrix that serve to hold the absorber nuclide in its intended location. Of the metal matrix neutron absorbers, aluminum has been the most commonly used although stainless steel is another choice that has been used, extensively. Aluminum (Al) matrix absorbers can be manufactured to generally thin plate form by a variety of methods. In one method, a preform with near maximum theoretical density can be produced by casting and hot rolling. In another, aluminum and boron carbide with a full dense is produced using powder metallurgy technology. This is well known as metal matrix composites (MMCs) such as BORAL. This material is prepared by hot rolling a cubic aluminum ingot containing powdered aluminum and boron carbide. Discontinuously reinforced aluminum /boron carbide (B4C) composite like a cermet offer a product with superior mechanical properties relative to the aluminum alloys itself. However, the density of this cermet is less than 100 % dense due to some internal porosity in MMCs. The hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is a candidate to get full density. In this study, MMCs of aluminum and boron carbide were prepared by powder mixing and canning HIP process. The density of prepared plate were measured by using gas pycnometer method, and compared to MMCs produced by METAMIC Co