Abstract
Cr3C2 -dispersed TiC composites were prepared via HPCS(high pressure-self combustion sintering) pro-cess using mixtures of Ti, Cr and a carbon source for the purpose of increasing the facture toughness and sinterability of TiC. In this study the microstructure and properties of the composites were investigated in terms of relation to the carbon source the particle size of Ti and the amount of Cr. It was found that car-bon black was the most effective carbon source among the various carbon sources tested and the reaction was more effective as the particle size of Ti decreased. Among the sintered composites of Ti-C-Cr system the one with 30wt% Cr showed the best physical properties with 0.5% in apparent porosity 98.8% in re-lative density 18.2 GPa in hardness and 4.46 MPa.m1/2 in fracture toughness. In addition it was observed that the lattice constant of TiC decreased gradually with increasing the amount of Cr.
