Effect of TiH2 in the preparation of MMC Ti based with TiC reinforcement

Many studies were carried out on the elaboration Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) and a wide variety of process is reported in the bibliography. For titanium based MMC, the basis material for these elaboration techniques mainly consists of atomized titanium powder. In this work a titanium hydride powder is used to elaborate Ti/TiC MMC. Although an additional dehydrogenation operation is required a significant decrease of the sintering temperature is expected with this basis powder. In this context, the behavior of titanium hydride powder mixed with 0, 10 and 20 vol.% TiC reinforcement is studied during densification by free sintering. The effects of particle size, temperature and rate of sintering reinforcement are discussed. The comparison of the TiH2 process with Ti HDH (Hydride Dehydride) and atomized Ti mixture is made with 10 vol.% reinforcement. The results indicate that the sintering temperature is lowered and the final densities achieved are higher if the hydride is used. Interactions between dehydrogenation and sintering mechanisms clearly appear for the higher sintering temperature rate (10 degrees C/min) and need specific attention to prevent porosity nucleation through hydrogen entrapment. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.