Reactive spark plasma sintering of TiB2–SiC–TiN novel composite

Abstract

The effects of adding SiC as a reinforcement and TiN as an additive on TiB2-based composites fabricated by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique were investigated. SPS was implemented at the sintering conditions of 1900 degrees C temperature, 7 min holding time and 40 MPa pressure. Adding these two secondary phases had noticeable effects on the microstructure of TiB2-based composites. A relative densities of 99.9% was obtained for TiB2-SiC-TiN composite. Detection of in-situ formed phases and investigation on them were done using SEM, XRD, EDS and thermodynamic assessment. These evaluations proved the formation of in-situ phases of TiC, BN nano-platelets, TiSi and B4C in the TiB2-based composite codoped with SiC and TiN. Formation of these in-situ phases had fascinating effects on the sinterability and ultimate microstructure of titanium diboride.