NEW MECHANOCHEMICAL PROCESS DELIVERSULTRA FINE TITANIUM-CARBIDE POWDER FOR USE INTHE FABRICATION OF CUTTING TOOLS


 Titanium carbide(TiC) is a model  structural material due to its hardness,hight-emperature stability,  and lowdensity. However,the widespread use of TiC in cutting tools and other applications has been limited because the production of TiC has not been cost effective and the fracture strength of the material has resulted in poor fracture toughness. 

The insufficient fracture toughness of conventionally produced TiC is characteristic of the synthesis process used, which involves reduction of titanium dioxide by carbon black at high temperatures. These high process temperatures,in addition to increasing costs, also result intheformation of the large carbide particles that can cause failure of TiC base dcemented carbides.However,the use of smaller carbide particles for the production of fine-grained composites is prohibitively expensive.

A new technology,low-cost synthesis and consolidation ofTiC,is being developed as acost-effective mechanochemical processing method that yields an ultra finetitanium-carbide powder. In this process, mechanical milling fosters an ambienttemperature reaction to produce extremely fine TiC powder,which is then combined withlow-cost,iron-based alloy powders. This mixture is then consolidated to produce a titanium-carbide product that can then be used in cutting tools.

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