Aluminium dodecaboride (AlB₁₂) is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a pure chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical elements that can be separated into simpler substances by chemical reactions. Chemical compounds have a unique and defined chemical structure; they consist of a fixed ratio of atoms that are held together...

 made from the metal aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 and the non-metal boron

Boron

Boron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...

. It is one of two chemical compounds that are commonly called aluminium boride, the other is aluminium diboride

Aluminium diboride

Aluminium diboride is a chemical compound made from the metal aluminium and the non-metal boron. It is one of two compounds of aluminium and boron, the other being AlB12 that are both commonly referred to as aluminium boride....

, AlB₂.

Properties

There are two crystalline forms, α-AlB₁₂, and γ-AlB₁₂. Both forms are very similar and consist of a framework with three-dimensional networks of B₁₂ and B₂₀ units. The phase β-AlB₁₂ is now believed to be the ternary boride C₂Al₃B₄₈.

External links

• "Boron";
• "Lightness and hardness"