A super-hard material is a late transition metal doped B4C ceramic. The lightweight ceramics can display Vickers Hardness in excess of 45 GPa. Transition metals, such as Ni, Co, Rh, and Pd can be doped into the boron carbide at levels up to about 2.5%. A spark plasma sintering (SPS) of an evacuated powder of B4C and the transition metal at temperatures up to 2000° C., and pressures of up to about 100 GPa forms a super-hard material as a body. The late transition metal doped B4C ceramic can be used for armor, grinding materials, thermoelectric materials, and catalysts.