Patent ID: 8262981

Claim:
A method for manufacturing an expanded lattice form of boron carbide comprising the steps of: (a) providing an amount of boron carbide; (b) providing an amount of carbon in the form of graphite; (c) grinding said boron carbide into boron carbide granules having a multi-modal grain size distribution, wherein said boron carbide granules collectively have a median diameter of approximately 10 microns or less; (d) grinding said carbon into carbon particles collectively having a median diameter of less than 1 micron; (e) substantially coating said boron carbide granules with said carbon particles to produce a mixture of carbon-coated boron carbide granules; (f) forming said mixture of carbon-coated boron carbide granules into a shape; (g) placing said shape in a substantial vacuum; (h) providing an amount of silicon; (i) introducing said amount of silicon to said formed mixture; and (j) heating said mixture of carbon-coated boron carbide granules to a temperature at or above a melting point of silicon, such as to cause at least a portion of said silicon to react with at least a portion of said boron carbide, thereby creating particles including a crystal lattice structure similar to the crystal lattice of boron carbide, said crystal lattice structure including atoms of silicon and boron substituted for carbon atoms at some positions within said crystal lattice structure.