Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis and liquid-phase sintering of TiC/Fe composites

The present paper addresses a possible route for the manufacturing of iron-based metal-matrix composites (MMCs) with a high level of reinforcement. The ceramic reinforcement studied was titanium carbide (TiC). TiC is one of the hardest materials to be found, which is why a TiC/Fe composite has the potential to be used as armour. Two manufacturing routes have been evaluated experimentally, i.e., liquid-phase sintering (LPS) and self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS). LPS was found to be more effective due to easier process control and due to the process yielding a more homogeneous material. Both LPS and SHS produced a material with a relatively high degree of porosity. The porosity in the LPS experiments could be decreased by varying the process parameters, but this was not possible in the SHS process. Metallographic investigation shows that the TiC/Fe system is feasible and that applications utilising TiC/Fe composites are possible in the future. This is due to the fact that despite the porosity, an improvement of the MMC properties is detected, compared to those of the matrix material. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.