Properties of B₄C-TiB₂ ceramics prepared by spark plasma sintering*

Abstract

By doping titanium hydride (TiH2) into boron carbide (B4C), a series of B4C + x wt% TiH2 (x = 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20) composite ceramics were obtained through spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of the sintering temperature and the amount of TiH2 additive on the microstructure, mechanical and electrical properties of the sintered B4C-TiB2 composite ceramics were investigated. Powder mixtures of B4C with 0–20 wt% TiH2 were heated from 1400 °C to 1800 °C for 20 min under 50 MPa. The results indicated that higher sintering temperatures contributed to greater ceramic density. With increasing TiH2 content, titanium diboride (TiB2) formed between the TiH2 and B4C matrix. This effectively improved Young’s modulus and fracture toughness of the composite ceramics, significantly improving their electrical properties: the electrical conductivity reached 114.9 S⋅cm−1 at 1800 °C when x = 20. Optimum mechanical properties were obtained for the B4C ceramics sintered with 20 wt% TiH2, which had a relative density of 99.9 ± 0.1%, Vickers hardness of 31.8 GPa, and fracture toughness of 8.5 MPa⋅m1 / 2. The results indicated that the doping of fine Ti particles into the B4C matrix increased the conductivity and the fracture toughness of B4C.

(Ti, Nb)(C, B)/IN625 In-Situ Reactive Coating Prepared by Ultra-High-Speed Laser Cladding: Interfacial Characterization, Residual Stress and Surface Wear Mechanisms

“…Strengthening phases (such as TiC and TiB 2 ) can offer the advantages of high hardness, excellent wear resistance, good thermal stability [15,16], and good wettability with IN625 alloy [17,18]. It was reported that adding TiC particles into the ultra-high-speed lasermelted IN625 coatings could significantly improve the wear resistance, but the TiC particles often showed an agglomeration effect, leading to the uniform distribution of the hardness and wear rate of the extreme high speed laser cladding coatings [19].…”

Numerical Simulation on Laser Shock Peening of B4C-TiB2 Composite Ceramics

“…Thus far, researchers have carried out a large number of studies on B 4 C-TiB 2 ceramic. They have studied the influence of factors, such as relative density, grain size, and content of the toughening phase, on the toughness and hardness of B 4 C-TiB 2 ceramics through different methods, such as pressureless sintering, hot pressing sintering, and spark plasma sintering, and achieved fruitful research results [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. At the same time, however, it is difficult to further improve this material.…”