Among the transition element carbides TiC is frequently used as a second phase in composites with some borides and carbides and sometimes with carbonaceous compounds and ceramic oxides. However, the study of titanium carbide as a single phase or major phase material has not been received the due attention. This work aimed to study the synthesis and sintering behaviour of TiC powders to have a reference on its behaviour and properties. TiC powders were synthesized by self-propagating combustion using Ti metal and C graphite powders. In order to improve the sinterability, Al metal powder was also added to promote de formation of 5 vol.% of a transient liquid phase of TiAl. The syntheized powders with and without Al addition were attrition milled for 5h until a particle size of 3 m, suitable for subsequent sintering. The milled powders were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Sintering studies were carried out by spark plasma sintering at 1800ºC leading to relative densities of 96 and 99% of theoretical for the single phase TiC and for the composite TiC-Al. The microstructure of the specimens was highly homogeneous with Young’s moduli and hardness values of 500 and 22 GPa for TiC, respectively, and 580 and 24 GPa, respectively. This demonstrates that TiC materials have interesting properties in terms of hardness and elastic modulus, so they can be used as single phase or in composites as ultrahigh temperature ceramics.

This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2021-124521OB-I00, MCIU/AEI/FEDER, UE).