Effect of iron & boron content on the Spark Plasma Sintering of Ti-B-Fe alloys

The effect of a change in iron and boron contents on the Spark Plasma Sintering behaviour in the Ti-B-Fe alloys has been investigated through dilatometric sintering study using various samples having Ti-rich compositions. These samples are adequately chosen to study the sintering behaviour on the addition of boron and iron on the Ti-rich corner. The rate of sintering of Ti-B-Fe alloys was found to increase with an increase in iron content. The sintering enhancement can be attributed to the high diffusivity of iron in α-Ti and β-Ti phases and due to the formation of the intermetallic phase which results in greater overall shrinkage. The shrinkage was found to decrease with increase in boron content due to a greater amount of TiB2 which doesn’t participate in sintering in the observed range.