A spherical Fe matrix composite powder containing a high volume fraction （82vo1%） of fine TiC reinforcement was produced using a novel process combining in situ synthesis and plasma techniques. The composite powder exhibited good sphericity and a dense structure, and the fine sub-micron TiC particles were homogeneously distributed in the α-Fe matrix. A TiC-Fe cermet was prepared from the as-prepared spherical composite powder using powder metallurgy at a low sintering temperature; the product exhibited a hardness of HRA 88.5 and a flexural strength of 1360 MPa. The grain size of the fine-grained TiC and special surface structure of the spherical powder played the key roles in the fabrication process.
In this paper, TiAl alloy powders were prepared successfully by high-energy ball milling and diffusion reaction in vacuum at low temperature. The titanium powder, aluminum powder, and titanium hydride powder were used as raw materials. The samples were characterized by scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, field-emission scanning electron microscopy（FESEM）, and differential thermal analysis（DTA）. The results show that the alloy powders with the main intermetallic compounds of TiAl are obtained using Ti-Al powders and TiH2-Al powders after heated for 2 h at 500 ℃,3 h at 600 ℃,and 3 h at 750 ℃,respectively.The average grain sizes of alloy powder are about 45 and20 μm with irregular shape, respectively. The prepared TiAl alloy powders are relatively pure, and the average quality content of oxygen in the alloy powders is0.33 wt%. The forming process of alloy powder contains both the diffusion reaction of Ti and Al,which gives priority to the diffusion reaction of aluminum.
Spherical Ti-45A1-8.5Nb-（W,B,Y） alloy powder prepared by an argon plasma process was near-net shape by gelcasting. In the non-aqueous system, methaerylate-2-hydroxy ethyl, toluene, benzoyl peroxide, and N,N-dimethylaniline were used as the monomer, solvent, initiator, and catalyst, respectively. To improve sintering and forming behaviors, many additives were included in the suspension. The concentrated suspension with a solid loading of 70vo1% was prepared. The high Nb-TiA1 powder was analyzed by electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. It was found that the green bodies had a smooth surface and homogeneous microstructure, exhibiting a bending strength as high as 50 MPa. After sintering at 1480℃ for 2 h in vacuum, uniform complex-shaped high Nb-TiA1 parts were successfully produced.
In this work, low-cost titanium was fabricated by gelcasting of titanium hydride powder. The effects of morphology and grain composition of powder raw material and solid loading on the rheological behavior of gelcasting slurry were studied. The degreasing, dehydriding and sintering behaviors of gelcasted green body were investigated by differential thermal analysis （DTA） and dilatometer. The results show that the solid loading of titanium hydride slurry reaches 50 vol%. Combination of dehydriding and sintering in one process accelerates the densification, and the relative sintered density of the final part achieves 96.5 %. In order to test the ability of gelcasting process for fabricating structural materials, a resin handle produced by 3D printing technology was used as a model and a titanium handle was successfully fabricated. Higher solid loading and better sinterability of titanium hydride powder promote manufacture of bulk titanium with high relative density, complex shape and well-defined microstructure.
