One-step synthesis and densification of ceramic-ceramic and ceramic-metal composite materials

摘要

Ceramic-ceramic and ceramic-metal composite materials containing at least two ceramic phases and at least one metallic phase are disclosed. One of these ceramic phases is a metal boride or a mixture of metal borides and the other ceramic phase is a metallic nitride, a metallic carbide or a mixture of a metallic nitride and a metallic carbide. These composites can be made from at least one element selected from the group consisting of titanium, zirconium, hafnium, vanadium, niobium, tantalum, chromium, molybdenum, tungsten, aluminum, silicon and mixtures of two or more thereof, boron nitride, boron carbide and mixtures thereof Selected from the group consisting of iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, aluminum, silicon, palladium, platinum, silver, gold, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, iridium and mixtures of two or more thereof. (Provided that at least one element is different from at least one metal). The process requires a relatively low pressure to obtain highly dense composite materials with a high degree of control of the microstructure of the product. Densified products with dense, finely pulverized microstructures can be obtained by applying mechanical pressure during combustion synthesis. The composites have improved resistance to hardness, roughness, strength, abrasion resistance and breakdown.