X-ray diffraction and mechanical property studies of TiCx synthesized by shock-assisted reaction sintering

Abstract

Abstract Elemental titanium and carbon (graphite) powder mixtures (∼65% dense) were shock-compressed to ∼88% density, using a single-tube cylindrical implosion system. X-ray diffraction line broadening analysis (based on the Williamson–Hall method) revealed microstrain in Ti particles in shock-densified Ti+C compacts as being of the order of ∼3×10 −3 , which corresponds to a dislocation density of the order of 10 11 cm −2 . The shocked Ti+0.95 graphite compacts were subsequently machined into triangular sections and reaction-sintered in an induction-heated hot press, under different reaction conditions, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used to determine the lattice constant of reaction-synthesized TiC x compound, yielding values in the range of 4.279 to 4.309 A and suggesting formation of a non-stoichiometric TiC 0.35–0.58 compound. The reaction-sintered TiC x compound had a microhardness as high as 1900 KHN, approaching that of commercial fully-dense TiC ceramics (2000 KHN).