Very strong pure titanium by field assisted hot pressing of dual phase powders

•New method to develop strong metals by the consolidation of dual phase powders.•An in-situ method was applied to fabricate very strong pure Ti/TiC composites.•Highest compression yield stress values ever reported for Ti/TiC composites.

Very strong pure Ti, with room temperature compressive yield stresses up to 1.80 GPa, was developed by field assisted hot pressing of a mixture of hcp (α) and fcc powders produced by mechanical milling. During consolidation the fcc phase decomposes into α-Ti and a dispersion of TiC particles. Tuning the pressing temperature and time allows controlling the grain and particle size and, thus, the yield strength and plasticity.