Abstract
Titanium carbide (TiC) reinforced nickel (Ni) matrix composites were processed via mechanical alloying (MA) followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Mechanical alloying has gained special attention as a powerful non-equilibrium process for fabricating amorphous and nanocrystalline materials, whereas spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a unique technique for processing dense and near net shape bulk alloys with homogenous microstructure. TiC reinforcement varied from 5 to 50 wt.% into nickel matrix to investigate its effect on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of Ni-TiC composites. All Ni-TiC composites powder was mechanically alloyed using planetary high energy ball mill with 400 rpm and ball to powder ratio (BPR) 15:1 for 24 h. Bulk Ni-TiC composites were then sintered via SPS process at 50 MPa pressure and 900–1200 °C temperature. All Ni-TiC composites exhibited higher microhardness and compressive strength than pure nickel due to the presence of homogeneously distributed TiC particles within the nickel matrix, matrix grain refinement, and excellent interfacial bonding between nickel and TiC reinforcement. There is an increase in Ni-TiC composites microhardness with an increase in TiC reinforcement from 5 to 50 wt.%, and it reaches the maximum value of 900 HV for Ni-50TiC composites.
Highlights
Over the past few decades, metal matrix composites (MMC) have attracted considerable interest due to their exceptional physical and mechanical properties, such as high specific modulus, fatigue strength, thermal stability, and wear resistance
No intermetallic peaks correspond to Ni-Ti, or Ni3Ti observed in these x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, confirming the absence of any in situ reactions between pure nickel and Titanium carbide (TiC) during mechanical alloying as well as during spark plasma sintering (SPS) processing
Pure nickel and Ni-TiC composites have been successfully processed via mechanical alloying followed by spark plasma sintering process
Summary
Over the past few decades, metal matrix composites (MMC) have attracted considerable interest due to their exceptional physical and mechanical properties, such as high specific modulus, fatigue strength, thermal stability, and wear resistance. These outstanding properties make MMCs suitable for a wide range of applications, including aerospace and automotive industry, and other structural, electrical, and thermal applications [1]. One of the types of reinforcement is continuous reinforcement, which includes fibers and sheets of either a metal or composite reinforcement [2]. The other type is discontinuous reinforcement, that includes particles, short fibers or whiskers, and other small particles like structures [3]. Discontinuous reinforcement has several advantages over continuous reinforcement by avoiding nonuniformity and fiber to fiber contact [3]
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