aDepartment of Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering, CAS Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, Anhui, PR China
Abstract:
Niobium aluminide-based composites reinforced with in situ and externally added Al2O3 and TiC particulates were fabricated by hot-pressed sintering at 1400 °C. In particular, Nb2Al–Al2O3–TiC in situ composites were successfully obtained from the raw powder mixtures of Nb60Al40 (in at.%)–TiO220C8 (in wt.%) by means of this process. The influences of ceramic particulates on the microstructures, flexural strength and fracture toughness were examined. The experimental results indicate that the presence of ceramic particulates yielded a remarkable improvement in both the strength and fracture toughness in comparison with previous results for monolithic niobium aluminide compounds.