Abstract
Titanium-based composites reinforced with TiC particles were produced by the mechanical alloying processing route using the planetary ball mill. The titanium powder with a particle size smaller than 44μm (-325mesh) and carbon powder with an average diameter of 0.64/μm were used as starting powder materials. The average particle size of TiC which was formed during milling treatment decreased with the increase of disk rotation speed and milling time. It was possible to coarsen TiC by annealing the milled and HIP'ed compacts in the temperature range above 1, 273K. Under the milling and annealing conditions used in the present study, the average particle size of TiC ranged from 2μm to around 20μm. The tensile properties of the composites were measured as a function of volume amount of Ti Cand TiC particle size. In the case when the TiC particle size remained constant, the tensile strength of the composites increased whereas ductility decreased with increasing amount of TiC. In the composites reinforced with 10 volume % TiC, tensile strength and ductility showed higher values as the TiC paticle size decreased.
