Effect of nanocrystalline TiC powder addition on the hardness and wear resistance of cast iron

In this research, the feasibility of the addition of nanocrystalline TiC particles – synthesized via mechanical alloying – to iron matrix melt was investigated. For the preparation of TiC, impure titanium chips and carbon black were placed in a high-energy ball mill and sampled after different milling time. XRD studies showed that at milling times more than 15 h, TiC was synthesized. It was observed from the peak broadening of the diffraction patterns that the TiC crystallites were in the scale of nanometer. 0.96 wt.% TiC synthesized after 15 h was added to a 4 wt.% C cast iron melt. It was observed that this small amount of TiC was enough to improve the structure, hardness and wear resistance of the cast iron significantly.