Dense nanocrystalline TiB2–TiC composites formed by field activation from high-energy ball milled reactants

The formation of dense nanometric TiB2–TiC composites from ball milled elemental reactants was investigated. Elemental powders (Ti, C and B) were milled to (a) produce nanometric powders without product formation or (b) to effect a reaction during milling to produce nanostructured TiB2 and TiC. The products of these two mechanical activations were reacted/consolidated or only consolidated under the influence of a high current and a uniaxial pressure. Dense (up to 98.6%) nanocomposites were formed. The effect of prior milling on the crystallite sizes of the composite components was studied. The crystallite sizes of TiB2 and TiC in the dense composite formed from powders milled for 10 h were 71.4 and 62.5 nm, respectively. The microhardness of this composite was 20.6 GPa.