On the use of Ti Si eutectic alloy as a novel sintering aid for B4C TiB2SiC ceramic composites

Abstract 24Ti 76Si (wt.%) eutectic alloy as a novel sintering aid for hot-pressing of B 4 C-based ceramic composites was proposed in this paper. B 4 C TiB 2 SiC ternary ceramic composites were fabricated by hot-pressing at 1850 °C via in-situ reaction of B 4 C and Ti Si eutectic alloy. The results indicated that the addition of Ti Si eutectic alloy significantly increase the density and enhanced the mechanical properties of B 4 C-based composites. The Vickers hardness, flexural strength, fracture toughness and compressive strength were 28.4 ± 1.1 GPa, 582.3 ± 45.5 MPa, 6.3 ± 0.4 MPa m 1/2 , and 4109.3 ± 209.6 MPa, respectively, for the composite prepared with B 4 C-30 wt.% Ti Si. These values were much higher than those of nominally pure B 4 C ceramic prepared by the same processing condition. The improved mechanical properties were attributed to the well-dispersed fine intergranular/intragranular TiB 2 and SiC phases in the B 4 C matrix.