Fabrication of Ultra Fine Grained W-TiC Composites by Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract:

Nano TiC particles dispersion strengthened ultra fine grained (UFG) W-TiC composites were fabricated by mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The microstructure and the room temperature mechanical properties of the W-TiC composites were studied. The results show that the well-combined and highly-densified (nearly 98.6%) UFG W-TiC composites can be obtained by SPS at 1700 oC for 1 min. The addition of the nano TiC can refine the grains of W, and accelerate its densification. The grain size, relative density, bending strength and the Vicker hardness HV0.2 of the UFG W-TiC composites are 0.5 μm, 98.6%, 1262 MPa and 6.45 GPa, respectively when the content of TiC is 0.7wt%.

Key words:tungsten; ultra fine grain; spark plasma sintering; TiC