Estimation of distinctive mechanical properties of spark plasma sintered titanium–titanium boride composites through nano-indentation technique

• Published in: International journal of materials research Vol. 106; no. 11; pp. 1182 - 1188
• Main Authors: Mani, Selvakumar, Palanisamy, Chandrasekar, Murugesan, Mohanraj, Balasubramanian, Ravisankar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 01-11-2015
• Subjects: Borides; Contact; Contact stiffness; Creep (materials); Indentation; Indentation creep; Mechanical properties; Modulus of elasticity; Nano-indentation; Reinforcement; Spark plasma sintering; Titanium boride; Titanium borides
• ISSN: 1862-5282; 2195-8556
• DOI: 10.3139/146.111292

In this paper, two titanium–titanium boride composites aiming at 20 % and 40 % (by volume) of titanium boride reinforcement were processed through spark plasma sintering. The mechanical properties such as fracture toughness, indentation creep, contact stiffness, indentation hardness and Young's modulus of the processed composites were evaluated by means of nano-indentation. The Young's modulus, indentation hardness and contact stiffness increase with the increase in volume fraction of titanium boride, while the fracture toughness and indentation creep decrease. The titanium composite with 38.5 % (by volume) titanium boride showed improved mechanical properties compared to the composite with 24 % (by volume) titanium boride reinforcement. The morphological influence of TiB reinforcement on the mechanical properties was also discussed.