UC Davis

The nanocomposite of Ti-Al-B system was consolidated by SPS and characterized on microstructure and mechanical property, which was synthesized from activated nano powders by Mechanical Alloying. Planetary ball milling was used for Mechanical Alloying for 120-180 min with 350 rpm. The synthesized activated powders were pressed at 1400oC under 60 MPa in vacuum, with 1800 A (DC) electrical currency for 4 min. Various Al compositions doped with the reactively formed TiB2 during Mechanical Alloying played a critical role on consolidation and mechanical property.

The synthesized nanocomposite was analyzed by SEM, XRD and TEM, with a TiB2 second phase in 10-30 nm size, and remained amorphous phase of Al with unreacted Ti and B on grain boundaries as a ternary phase. In the composition of 0.3 mol Al, the relative density of 98% and bending strength of 847 MPa were higher than those of TiB2 composite, and the hardness measurement of 19.6 GPa in the 0.1 mol Al composition was the highest among three compositions.