Densification and properties of transition metal borides-based cermets via spark plasma sintering

Vaporization and Poor Wettability as the Main Challenges in Fabrication of TiB2-Cu Cermets Studied by SPS

“…Therefore, search for effective sintering techniques is a fully justified challenge to be undertaken. Such systems were studied and already reported in several papers [3][4][5]9,10,12], including sintering by SPS, and the results were consistently confirmed. Also compaction of Cu or Cu-based powder mixtures by means of SPS technique has been studied at least several times, using different grain size powders and various sintering conditions [2,13,14].…”

“…Due to the application of very hard TiB2, hardness, strength, as well as wear and erosion resistance can be significantly improved. By using high volume fraction of TiB2 even the application in cutting tools technology is possible [3,10,11] because remarkably hard cermets can be obtained [7][8][9][10][11].…”

“…However, graphite die may start to dissolve or even react with sintered material when the densification process is carried out at significantly high temperatures. Most likely, Venkateswaran et al [10] faced this problem while sintering TiB2-6 vol. % Cu at 1550 °C by SPS.…”

“…Therefore, in order to evaluate quantitatively effects of vaporization, the SPS was applied in this study. Both results of Cu deposition at 1300 °C [27] and most likely solubility of C in Cu at 1500 °C [10] were considered when deciding that the sintering temperature in this study would be limited to 1200 °C. The microstructural investigations and quantitative phase analysis were employed to recognize and identify challenges related to liquid phase sintering of TiB2-Cu cermets in vacuum.…”

Effect of AlN as sintering aid on hot-pressed ZrB2–SiC ceramic composite

“…The addition of properly designed sintering aids is a suitable process step to overcome the low sinterability of this ceramic. The addition of metallic elements such as nickel, iron and copper as sintering aids has been proven to enhance the sinterability of ZrB 2 powders at processing temperatures below those needed for undoped ZrB 2 [9][10][11]. However, the low melting point residual secondary phases, originated by the reactions of the starting components during sintering process, often degrade the properties of these materials.…”