Abstract Submitted to the NANOTUBE'02 Workshop:

High yield and large quantity of boron nitride (BN) nanotubes have been produced using a mechano-thermal process, which consists of a mechanical milling of elemental boron powder at ambient temperature in ammonia gas and followed by thermal annealing in nitrogen gas. Multi-walled cylindrical BN nanotubes and other nanostructures such as bamboo and conical tubes are produced in a high yield. The high-energy ball milling creates a precursor containing a high density of nanocrystalline BN seeds and fine metal catalysts. The subsequent annealing activates nanotube growth. A controllable growth of different nanotubular structures and sizes can be achieved. Based on experimental observation, we will discuss formation mechanism including nanotube nucleation, growth kinetics and metal catalytic roles in this special synthesis process. Excellent properties of BN nanotubes will be briefly introduced. We wish to demonstrate that the mechano-thermal process is a promising and practical synthesis method for the production at industrial scale.