Preparation of highly toughened Ti(C,N)-based cermets via mechanical activation and subsequent in situ carbothermal reduction

摘要

Highly toughened Ti(C,N)-based cermets were successfully fabricated using a novel method of mechanical activation and subsequent in situ carbothermal reduction. The phase transformation, chemical composition, and microstructure of the mechanical activation powders and as-sintered cermets were investigated using XRD, ICP-AES, C/N/O analysis, and SEM. The results revealed that the complex MoNiTi solid solution phase formed after mechanical activation, and the powders after high energy ball milling promoted the solid solution of alloying elements into the hard particles. After the subsequent sintering process containing the in-situ carbothermal reduction reaction and liquid sintering, the microstructure of as-sintered cermet showed a single solid solution phase with a homogenous distribution. Without added WC, the extremely high toughness of the present cermet was 21.3 MPa.m(1/2), and this was 66.4% higher than that of the conventional cermet and 62.5% higher than that of the cermet that was fabricated via in-situ carbothermal reduction.