A study of the wear resistance of a TiC–SiC composite ceramic material prepared by spark plasma sintering

The effect of the silicon carbide content and the spark plasma sintering temperature on the porosity and wear resistance of a composite material is determined. An increase in the silicon carbide content leads to an increase in the porosity from 4 to 12%. The temperature effect on the porosity becomes apparent above 1200°C. The material consists of a matrix represented by titanium carbide grains with a size of 1–3 μm and silicon carbide grains with a size of 10–30 μm. It is found that the TiC–20%SiC compound exhibits the highest wear resistance, which is 12 times higher than that of hot-pressed silicon carbide.