Preparation core/shell-type microparticles consisting of cBN cores aluminum coating via composite method

The mechanically mixed aluminum and cubic boron nitride (cBN) powder are important raw materials for preparing super-hard metal cutting tools. So aluminum shell-coated cBN may have significant economic potential. A Brownian motion based electrostatic self-assembly route in liquid salt of high temperature was developed using silica nanolayer bridge joint for the aluminum coating of cBN microparticles. In this approach, piranha solution method was first used to activate the surface of cBN cores, the silica nanolayer via sol-gel method served as the substrate for an outer aluminum coating of cBN cores. Coating of aluminum on cBN cores was accomplished by a self-assembly process from a liquid state solution of molten salt and aluminum powders. To distinguish small amounts of non-reacted aluminum powders which acted as aluminum source with the core - shell structure product, bromoform (CHBr₃) was used to separate both of them due to the density differences. Samples were characterized by SEM, XRD, EDX and DSC. The contribution of our work lies in the creation of a novel strategy to fabricate a light metal element coating on the inert material particles in view of the versatility of sol-gel process and the controllability of the molten salt process.