Boron fiber orboron filament is an amorphous product which represents the major industrial use of elementalboron. Boron fiber manifests a combination of highstrength and highelastic modulus.
A common use of boron fibers is in the construction of high tensile strength tapes. Boron fiber use results in high-strength, lightweight materials that are used chiefly for advancedaerospace structures as a component ofcomposite materials, as well as limited production consumer and sporting goods such asgolf clubs andfishing rods.[1][2]
One of the uses of boron fiber composites was the horizontal tail surfaces of theF-14 Tomcat fighter. This was done because carbon fiber composites were not then developed to the point they could be used, as they were in many subsequent aircraft designs.[3] Boron fiber is a primaryreinforcement constituent inHy-Bor, aprepreg blend of boron fiber and carbon fiber primarily used for high-performance aerospace and sporting goods applications.
In the production process, elementalboron is deposited on an eventungsten wire substrate which produces diameters of 4.0 mil (102 micron) and 5.6 mil (142 micron). It consists of a fullyboridedtungsten core withamorphousboron.[4][5][6]
Boron fibers and sub-millimeter sized crystalline boron springs are produced bylaser-assistedchemical vapor deposition. Translation of the focused laser beam allows to produce even complex helical structures. Such structures show good mechanical properties (elastic modulus 450 GPa, fracture strain 3.7%, fracture stress 17 GPa) and can be applied as reinforcement of ceramics or inmicromechanical systems.[7]
