Melt-infiltration processing of TiC/Ni3Al composites

A simple melt-infiltration processing route has been developed for the fabrication of TiC/Ni3Al ceramic/intermetallic composites, which involves a combination of infiltration and subsequent liquid phase sintering. For Ni3Al contents from 8 to 25 vol. %, densities in excess of 98% of theoretical are readily obtained when processing at 1450 °C. TiC and Ni3Al are the only phases detected in the densified materials. Ni3Al ductility is retained after processing, leading to the possibility of ductile phase toughened TiC composites for elevated temperature applications (up to ~1100 °C).