Simultaneous synthesis and sintering of TiC/Al2O3 composite via self propagating synthesis with direct consolidation technique

This manuscript presents the results of a study on the use of self propagating high temperature synthesis technique combined with direct consolidation for simultaneous synthesis and densification of TiC/Al2O3 composite. The effects of both the mixing procedure of the starting reactant powders, and the addition of different mole fraction of alumina were investigated. The samples were characterized chemically, physically, and morphologically and their mechanical properties measured. It was found that changing the mixing procedure of the starting powders reduced the porosity of the combustion product from 24 to 7 vol%. On the other hand, the addition of 1.0 mol alumina was found to increase the porosity to 13 vol% and hence lower the mechanical properties. However, the addition of alumina resulted in samples with much better geometric definition and therefore this approach should be further investigated with optimized processing conditions.