摘要： We report the growth of 4 mm diameter x 50 mm long Boron Carbide (B4C) with large single crystal regions using a Laser Diode Floating Zone (LDFZ) method at varying growth rates of 5-20 mm/hr. These materials were grown using polycrystalline B4C as a seed. Microstructural characterization shows the presence of a significant number of twinning-boundaries along the growth direction ([001]h) oriented in the (1210)h plane. At faster growth rates >10 mm/hr, the crystal orientation was reproducible, suggesting a twin-plane mediated growth mechanism. On the contrary, at slower growth rates <10 mm/hr the crystal orientation was not reproducible, suggesting a critical rate for twin-plane mediated growth to dominate. Zone refinement of these crystals led to a significant reduction of trace impurities to better than 99.999 wt % purity, at the expense of increased twinning. Powder x-ray diffraction confirms that the bulk is rhombohedral B4C, consistent with the microstructural analysis. The X-ray reciprocal space maps reveal the growth direction to be close to the [001]h direction, and the corresponding ω-rocking curve width is ~530arcsec. The rocking curve consisted of 3 distinct peaks, indicating in-plane mosaicism, consistent with the twinning observed. Berkovich nano-indentation of the key (001)h plane showed 41 ± 1 GPa hardness, with a Young’s modulus of 520 ± 14 GPa, comparable to literature reports.