In-situ synthesis TiC+TiB/Ti composites by spark plasma sintering

The TiC+TiB/Ti composites were prepared through the synthesis reaction between Ti and B4C by means of Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The possibility of the chemical reaction between Ti and B4C was confirmed by thermodynamic analysis. The phases and microstructures of the ball-milled powder and in-situ synthesis composites were identified by X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy. The relative density and hardness were measured. The densification and reactive mechanism of the TiC+TiB/Ti composites prepared by SPS technique were discussed. The results show that synchronous completing of the reaction, sintering and densification can be done and the TiC+TiB/Ti composites can be fabricated by means of the reactive sintering method in a relatively short time (5 min) and at lower temperature (1150 degrees C), the reinforcements are fine and distributed uniformly in the matrix.