Strengthening of Titanium Silicon Carbide by Grain Orientation Control and Silicon Carbide Whisker Dispersion

Abstract

Strengthening of titanium silicon carbide (Ti₃SiC₂) was investigated by the grain orientation control and silicon carbide (SiC) whisker dispersion. Ti₃SiC₂ with preferentially oriented grains was prepared by hot-pressing of milled Ti₃SiC₂ powder. Composites were also fabricated by hot-pressing of a blend of the milled Ti₃SiC₂ powder and SiC whiskers. During hot-pressing, the preferential orientation of Ti₃SiC₂ grains was achieved while the precipitation of titanium carbide (TiC) occurred. As a result, 4-point bending strength of preferentially-oriented Ti₃SiC₂ was approximately 1.5 times the randomly-oriented pure Ti₃SiC₂ in a temperature range from room temperature to 1073 K. The bending strength of Ti₃SiC₂ with 15 vol% whiskers reached approximately 1 GPa, approximately 3 times the randomly-oriented pure Ti₃SiC₂, in the range to 1073 K. The results in this study indicate that the strengthening effect on Ti₃SiC₂ was contributed from the orientation control, TiC precipitation and SiC whisker dispersion.