Sinterability and mechanical properties of plasma-sintered beryllides with different Ti contents

The synthesis of plasma-sintered beryllide with different Ti contents was carried out to investigate the sinterability and mechanical properties as a function of the phase composition. The electron probe microanalysis clarified that the area fraction of the Be12Ti phase increased up to a Be-7.7 at.% Ti and then sharply decreased while the area fraction of Be decreased. Specifically, in the Be-6 at.% Ti, Be17Ti2 and Be2Ti phases began to be formed. For the Be-10.5 at.% Ti, a large amount of the Be17Ti2 phase was detected. These results are in good agreement with the X-ray diffraction profiles obtained for the plasma-sintered beryllide with different Ti contents. In addition, the Vickers micro-hardness test results clearly prove that with increasing Ti content, the hardness increased but then became saturated near Be-7.7 at.% Ti. This hardness variation does not seem to be related to the grain size effect because the grain size increased with increasing Ti content.

► We report the effect of Ti content on the sinterability and mechanical property.
► Regardless of Ti content, the beryllides were synthesized with high sintering density.
► According to the Ti content, the beryllides exhibited different phase compositions.
► Increase of hardness seems to be associated with variation of phases.