Densification and high-temperature mechanical properties of hot pressed TiB2–(0–10 wt.%) MoSi2 composites

The present study investigates the influence of small amounts of MoSi2 sinter-aid on the densification and high-temperature properties of TiB2. Almost full densification of TiB2 is achievable with 2.5 wt.% MoSi2. The hardness of TiB2 decreases with temperature, though the samples retained their maximum hardness of 10.5 GPa up to 900 °C. A promising outcome of the present research is that the flexural strengths of TiB2 and TiB2–2.5 wt.% MoSi2 have been found to increase with temperature (550 MPa at 1000 °C).