The effect of TiC content on TiC / TC4 composite microstructure and properties prepared by microwave sintering

Abstract:

The impacts of different mass fraction TiC (0%, 5%, 10 /%, 15%) on the microstructure and properties of titanium-based composite material by microwave sintering were studied.The results show that the TiC/TC4 composite material is only consist of TiC and matrix ɑ-Ti + β-Ti. The relative density, microhardness and compressive strength of the TiC/TC4 composite increase with the increasing of TiC content at room temperature, which reaching 98.01%, 661 HV, 1789MPa respectively, the relative density of the composite increases about 2% to 6% compared to the vacuum sintering with the referred literatures, and the compressive strength increases about 5% to 15% compared to the cast titanium matrix composites prepared by melting-casting process. Beside, the wear resistance of TiC/TC4 composite also enhances with the addition of TiC content which the friction coefficient is between 0.25 to 0.30.Therefore its wear mechanism changes from the abrasive wear and adhesive wear into a slight delamination.

Key words:TiC; Microwave sintering; Titanium matrix composites; Microstructure; Property