Effects of TiC Additions on Physical Properties of W-2wt.%VC-1wt.%C Nano Powder Composites Fabricated by Mechanical Alloying

Abstract

Effects of TiC additions on physical properties of W-VC-C nano powder composites during different milling time were investigated. W-2wt.%VC-1wt.%C and W-2wt.%VC-2wt.%TiC-1wt.%C composite powders were mechanically alloyed (MA’d) for 1 h, 3 h, 6 h, 12 h and 24 h in a high energy ball mill. Characterization studies were conducted to determine the effect of TiC content and MA duration on the morphology, lattice parameter, crystallite size and lattice strain amorphization rate of the powder composites. Addition of TiC declined particle size decreasing rate and powder densities after MA for 24 h. Both Gaussian and Williamson Hall (W-H) methods were employed on the X-ray diffraction patterns to analyse the variations of lattice strain and crystallite size with MA times. Up to MA durations of 6 h, the strain values increased rapidly and between MA times of 6 and 24 h, strain values enhancement occurred slowly in W-H method, while strain values obtained by Gaussian method increased linearly. The crystallite sizes of W-2wt.%VC-1wt.%C and W-2wt.%VC-2wt.%TiC-1wt.%C composite powders predicted by the W-H method decreased respectively to 3.317 nm and 3.066 nm after MA for 24 h.