Liquid-phase sintering of Ti(C,N)-based cermets. the effects of binder nature and content on the solubility and wettability of hard ceramic phases

Different commercial TiC-TiN/Co/Ni mixtures were used as raw materials for Ti(C,N) cermets, and the effects of the sintering parameters (binder content, binder nature, sintering time and additives) on the final hard ceramic phase were studied at the sintering temperature of 1400 °C. When Co is used as the binder medium, it is possible to completely convert the starting commercial TiC-TiN mixture into TiCxN1-x. When Ni is used, which exhibits lower solubilising capacity than Co, the total conversion can never be reached and the metallurgical reactions between TiC and TiN during the liquid-phase sintering are more dependent on the sintering time than on the binder content. However, the use of Co-Ni mixtures, showing a synergic effect between the wettability capacity of Ni and the solubilising capacity of Co, enhances the metallurgical reactions at short sintering times. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.