Boron carbide is the third hardest material in nature
Boron carbide (B4C) is the third hardest material in nature, but applications are hindered by its brittle failure under impact. We found that this brittle failure of B4C arises from amorphous shear band formation due to the deconstruction of icosahedral clusters, and based on this model, we suggest and validate with quantum mechanics (QM, PBE flavor of density functional theory) that a laminated B4C–B6O composite structure will eliminate this brittle failure. Using QM to apply shear deformations