Fabrication and mechanical properties of porous TiB2 ceramic

Porous material of TiB2 with improved mechanical properties was fabricated by vacuum and pressureless sintering. The microstructure of the porous ceramic was characterized by the enhanced neck growth between the initially touching particles. This neck growth was ascribed to the selective heating of TiB2 particles with different dimension. The porous structure prepared by the high-temperature sintering exhibited higher bending strength and fracture toughness in the present experiment. The improved mechanical properties of the sintered composites were attributable to the enhanced neck growth by surface diffusion