Synthesis of TiC–Ni cermets by the activated reactive evaporation process

Abstract

This investigation is concerned with the deposition of TiC–Ni cermets using the activated reactive evaporation (ARE) process. A Ti–10 Ni alloy rod was evaporated from an electron beam source in the presence of acetylene (C2H2), the vapor species being activated or partially ionized using the ARE proc microhardness, x-ray fluorescence, x-ray imaging for different elements on an electron microprobe analyzer, optical microscopy, and electron microscopy. It has been shown that TiC–Ni cermets can be deposited by the ARE technique, and they are quite hard. When the deposition was made on Ta substrates at high temperatures, it was observed that Ni diffuses into Ta and forms an intermetallic phase near the interface between the substrate and the deposit.