Synthesis of Ti-B-C composites by reactive spark plasma sintering of B4C and Ti

B4C-TiB2-C and TiB2-TiC-C composites were synthesized by reactive spark plasma sintering of powder mixtures of Ti and BIG, accompanied by their solid-state displacement reactions. When varying the mixing ratio of the starting materials Ti and B4C, x, the following reactions were completed: when 0<x less than or equal to 2, B4C + xTi-->xTiB(2)+ (1-x/2)BaC+ (x/2)C and when 2<x less than or equal to 3, B4C+xTi-->2TiB(2)+ (x-2)TiC + (3 -x)C. Carbon, which was precipitated in the product TiB2 phases, increased pores and cracks in the TiB2 phases and resulted in a decrease of the relative density and Young's modulus. For x=3, the composite contained no carbon and had the highest values for both the Young's modulus and fracture toughness. The Young's modulus of the composites prepared was represented by E/GPa = 460V(B4C) + 600 V-TiB2 + 488(VTiC) - 1414V(C), where V-i is the molar volume of component i.