Effect of Sintering Aid on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of TiB2/TiN Tool Materials
TiB2/TiN composites with various content of Ni and Mo as sintering aid were hot-pressed at 1530°C. Effect of the content of sintering aid on microstructure and mechanical properties is investigated. Experimental results show that the fracture toughness of the composites increases consistently with an increase in the sintering aid content, however, the flexural strength gets to the maximum when the content of sintering aid is 10vol%. A new eutectic phase of MoNi can be found in the composites by X-ray diffraction (XRD) when the amount of sintering aid is over 7vol%. Scan electron microscope (SEM) analysis shows that the density of the composites increases consistently with the increasing of the sintering aid. But the abnormal-growth grains can be found and deteriorates the flexural strength in the composite No.4 because of the excessive sintering aid.