Effect of Cu content on the reaction behaviors of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis in Cu–Ti–B4C system

The SHS reaction behaviors of the Cu–Ti–B4C system with various Cu content were investigated. Theoretical calculation of the adiabatic temperatures reveals that the reaction in the Cu–Ti–B4C system is self-sustainable for the presence of 0–72.22 wt.% Cu in the reactants without any preheat. With the increase of Cu content, the adiabatic temperatures, combustion temperatures and wave velocity decrease greatly, while the ignition time shows first a remarkable decrease and then an increase with the minimum value at 20 wt.% Cu. Moreover, with the increase of Cu content, the sizes of the TiC and TiB2 grains decrease considerably.