Combustion Synthesis of Carbide Particle Dispersed Aluminide Intermetallics

TiC particle dispersed FeAl intermetallic alloys have been combustion synthesized from mixtures of titanium, carbon, aluminum and iron powders. When the powder mixture was heated in an argon atmosphere to approximately 900 K, an abrupt increase in temperature was observed, which indicates that the combustion synthesis reaction occurred in the powder mixture. The combustion-synthesized alloys consisted of an FeAl matrix phase with homogeneously dispersed fine TiC particles. As the concentrations of titanium and carbon of the powder mixture increased, the volume fraction and average diameter of the TiC particles increased, and Vickers hardness of the sample also increased.