Spark plasma sintering of a mixture of B₄C and TiSi₂ powders

Chem. Met. Alloys 18 (2025) 17-20

Andriana IVANUSHKO, Roman GLADYSHEVSKII

https://doi.org/10.30970/cma18.0451

A mixture of B₄C and TiSi₂ (30 wt.%) powders prepared in a planetary ball mill was sintered at a temperature of 1900°C and a pressure of 70 MPa under argon atmosphere by the spark plasma sintering method. X-ray powder diffraction was used to determine the composition. The obtained material contained four phases: B₄C (75 wt.%), TiB₂ (15 wt.%), SiC (9.5 wt.%), and Si (0.5 wt.%). The average grain size was calculated from images obtained using a scanning electron microscope: B₄C – 1.2 mm, TiSi₂ – 1.8 mm, TiB₂ – 11.2 mm. For the ceramic material, a Vickers hardness of 43.9 GPa was achieved at a relative density of 99.5%.

Grain size distribution of the TiB₂ phase in the ceramic material after sintering.

Keywords

Boron carbide / X-ray diffraction / Crystal structure / Hardness