Effect of Mixing Condition of Elemental Powders on Synthesis of TiC Phase and Consolidation by Pressure Sintering Method

Abstract

The attempt of fabrication of TiC bulk material from elemental Ti and C powder was studied. The effect of mixing method and consolidation temperature on the densification behavior and microstructural properties of the compact were studied. The elemental Ti and C powder were mixed by two different methods, rotating stainless vessel with shaking motion (we call regular mixing in this paper) and ball milling apparatus (MA). The formation of TiC from regular mixed powder was occurred gradually with increasing temperature below 1373 K. On the other hand, MA powder ball milled for 1800 ks was started to form TiC phase at around 750 K. Therefore, only regular mixed powder is able to deform and sinter below 1373 K by pressure sintering due to the existence of metallic Ti phase. At high temperature of 1773 K, MA powder having fine microstructure achieved higher density than regular mixed powder with coarse microstructure.