《Microstructure and mechanical properties of B_4C-TiB_2-Al composites fabricated by vacuum infiltration》.pdfVIP

RARE METALS Vol. 29, No. 1, Feb 2010, p. 92 DOI: 10.1007/s12598-010-0016-4 Microstructure and mechanical properties of B C-TiB -Al composites 4 2 fabricated by vacuum infiltration LÜ Peng, YUE Xinyan, RU Hongqiang, and YU Liang Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110004, China Received 5 January 2009; received in revised form 15 June 2009; accepted 2 July 2009 © The Nonferrous Metals Society of China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010 Abstract B C-TiB -Al composites were fabricated by infiltrating aluminum into porous B C-TiB preforms in vacuum. The microstucture and 4 2 4 2 mechanical properties of the B C-TiB -Al composites were investigated. The hardness decreased, the flexural strength increased, and the 4 2 fracture toughness first increased and then decreased slightly with an increase in TiB content. The B C-TiB -Al composite with 40wt.% 2 4 2 TiB2 showed the optimized properties. The infiltrated aluminum addition was the leading reason for the fracture toughness improvement of the composites. The tear ridges and dimples on the fracture surface of the composites increased gradually with the increase of infiltrated alu- minum content showing inter/transgranular fracture mode. The relationships between the microstructures and the mechanical properties of the composites were discussed. Keywords: ceramic composite; vacuum infiltration; microstructure; mechanical properties 1. Introduction sity and