Effects of Ti,Y, and Hf additions on the thermal properties of ZrB2

Reactive hot pressing was utilized to synthesize and densify four ZrB₂ ceramics with impurity contents low enough to avoid obscuring the effects of dopants on thermal properties. Nominally pure ZrB₂ had a thermal conductivity of 141 ± 3 W/m K at 25 °C. Additions of 3 at% of Ti, Y, or Hf decreased the thermal conductivity by 20 %, 30 %, and 40 %, respectively. The thermal conductivity of (Zr,Hf)B₂ was similar to ZrB₂ synthesized from commercial powders containing the natural abundance of Hf as an impurity. This is the first study to demonstrate that Ti and Y additions decrease the thermal conductivity of ZrB₂ ceramics and report intrinsic values for thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of ZrB₂ containing transition metal additions. Previous studies were unable to detect these effects because the natural abundance of Hf present masked the effects of these additions.