Preparation and characterisation of TiC–Mo2C–SiC–MoSi2 composite ceramic

Abstract

In a conventional ceramic processing route, a novel TiC–Mo2C–SiC–MoSi2 composite ceramic was fabricated in sintering TiC-based composite materials with different TiC content by the solid-state chemical reaction. The effect of TiC content on the microstructure, mechanical and thermal properties of the prepared composite ceramics was investigated and discussed. Results indicate that 65 wt% was the optimal TiC content in search of good physical properties. The optimum of mechanical properties was 50.5 MPa in flexural strength and 58.6 MPa in compressive strength. The lowest coefficient of thermal expansion of 4.64×10−6/K was obtained. The differences in their physical properties should be related to the microstructure and phase composition changes. X-ray powder diffraction patterns confirmed that TiC, SiC, MoSi2 and Mo2C coexisted in the composite ceramics.