LINGAPPA RANGARAJ, SIRIYARA J. SURESHA, CANCHI DIVAKAR, and VIKRAM JAYARAM Dense ZrB 2 -ZrC and ZrB 2 -ZrC x~0.67 composites have been produced by reactive hot pressing (RHP) of stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric mixtures of Zr and B 4 C powders at 40 MPa and temperatures up to 1600°C for 30 minutes. The role of Ni addition on reaction kinetics and densification of the composites has been studied. Composites of~97 pct relative density (RD) have been produced with the stoichiometric mixture at 1600°C, while the composite with 99 pct RD has been obtained with excess Zr at 1200°C, suggesting the formation of carbon deficient ZrC x that significantly aids densification by plastic flow and vacancy diffusion mechanism. Stoichiometric and nonstoichiometric composites have a hardness of~20 GPa. The grain sizes of ZrB 2 and ZrC x~0.67 are~0.6 and 0.4 lm, respectively, which are finer than those reported in the literature.

Synthesis and densification of monolithic zirconium carbide (ZrC) has been carried out by reactive hot pressing of zirconium (Zr) and graphite (C) powders in the molar ratios 1:1, 1.25:1, 1.5:1, and 2:1 at 40 MPa, 12001-16001C. Monolithic ZrC could be synthesized with a C/Zr ratio B0.5-1.0 and the post heat-treated samples have the lattice parameter in the range 4.665 to 4.698 Å . Densification improves with an increasing deviation from the stoichiometry. Fine-grained (B1 lm) and nearly fully dense material (99% RD) could be obtained at a temperature as low as 12001C with C/Zr B0.67. Microstructural and XRD observations suggest that densification occurred at low temperatures with nonstoichiometric Zr-C powder mixtures.

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