Effect of Additive Ti3SiC2 Content on the Mechanical Properties of B4C–TiB2 Composites Ceramics Sintered by Spark Plasma Sintering

Authors :: Xingheng Yan
Xingui Zhou
Honglei Wang
Source :: Materials, Volume 13, Issue 20, Materials, Vol 13, Iss 4616, p 4616 (2020)
Publication Year :: 2020
Publisher :: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2020.
Abstract: B4C&ndash TiB2 composite ceramics with ultra-high fracture toughness were successfully prepared via spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1900 &deg C using B4C and Ti3SiC2 as raw materials. The results showed that compared with pure B4C ceramics sintered by SPS, the hardness of B4C&ndash TiB2 composite ceramics was decreased, but the flexural strength and fracture toughness were significantly improved the fracture toughness especially was greatly improved. When the content of Ti3SiC2 was 30 vol.%, the B4C&ndash TiB2 composite ceramic had the best comprehensive mechanical properties: hardness, bending strength and fracture toughness were 27.28 GPa, 405.11 MPa and 18.94 MPa&middot m1/2, respectively. The fracture mode of the B4C&ndash TiB2 composite ceramics was a mixture of transgranular fracture and intergranular fracture. Two main reasons for the ultra-high fracture toughness were the existence of lamellar graphite at the grain boundary, and the formation of a three-dimensional interpenetrating network covering the whole composite.

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