Fe, Cr3C2, NbC and WC powder are directly melted by a plasma arc in a graphite mold to obtain Fe-carbide composite materials. The maximum bending strength of the composite reinforced with 20wt% of Cr3C2 particles was 1.2 GPa. In Fe-NbC composites, the maximum bending strength of the composite reinforced with 20wt% of NbC particles was 0.98 GPa. In Fe-WC composites, the low strength was caused by the difference in density between Fe and WC. With increasing the content of carbide, the bending modulus decreased and hardness increased monotonously.
