Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Reaction paths and microstructural evolution during transient plastic phase processing of titanium carbide -- Titanium boride composites

Book ·
OSTI ID:77953
; ; ;  [1]
  1. Drexel Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Materials Engineering

Transient Plastic Phase Processing (TPPP) was used to fabricate fully dense, ultra-refractory ceramic-ceramic composites of different microstructures in the Ti-B-C system. The attainment of the full density was related to the presence of a substoichiometric titanium carbide (TiC{sub 0.5}) that was formed in situ or chosen as a reactant. Two starting compositions, that correspond to the same point in the ternary diagram, namely: 4:1 (molar) Ti/B{sub 4}C and 1:1 TiC{sub 0.5}/ TiB{sub 2} were examined. The final microstructures were dramatically different, with Ti{sub 3}B{sub 4} nucleating and growing as platelets when the reactants were 4:1Ti/B{sub 4}C and as equiaxed grains when the starting powders were 1:1 TiC{sub 0.5}/TiB{sub 2}. Interrupted runs have shown that the formation of the platelets was linked to the presence of the intermediate phase TiB. For both starting compositions fully dense composites with good mechanical properties were produced. The superior mechanical properties of 4:1Ti/B{sub 4}C composite is believed to be due to the platelet morphology of the Ti{sub 3}B{sub 4} phase and associated specific mechanisms of platelet-crack interactions.

OSTI ID:
77953
Report Number(s):
CONF-950201--; ISBN 0-87339-283-3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English