boron carbide

noun

Chemistry.

1. a black, crystalline, extremely hard, water-insoluble solid, B 4 C, used chiefly as a moderator in nuclear reactors, as an abrasive, and as a refractory.

boron carbide

noun

1. a black extremely hard inert substance having a high capture cross section for thermal neutrons. It is used as an abrasive and refractory and in control rods in nuclear reactors. Formula: B 4 C

Example Sentences

In this case, iron and silicon films are used, mixed with isotopic enriched boron carbide.

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The improved mirror has been developed by researchers at Linköping University by coating a silicon plate with extremely thin layers of iron and silicon mixed with boron carbide.

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For example, the ceramic plates fitted into body armour are becoming better, with newer versions using materials such as boron carbide.

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The rods contained boron carbide, which hampered reactivity, but the Soviets decided to tip them in graphite, which facilitated reactivity; it was a bid to save energy, and therefore money, by lessening the rods’ moderating effect.

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They inserted the control rods—graphite-tipped cylinders of boron carbide that slow or stop a nuclear reaction—too far into the reactor.

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