Densification Behaviors of Fe-TiC System during Spark Plasma Sintering

The SPS process is a synthetic technique which enables sinter-bonding to occur at low temperature and within a short sintering time. Furthermore, it produces finer grain size than conventional sintering methods. Fe-TiC system is a relatively light material and is one third the size of tungsten carbide and less than half weight of tool steel. It is cost effective when used in Fe-TiC system due to high mass effect with low density and relatively low cost of changing tools and bearings. Fe-TiC system can be machined easily with conventional equipment. In the present work, SPS was conducted at the temperatures of 1200, 1250 and 1300℃ at the sintering time of 3, 5 and 10min. As the sintering temperature and holding time increased, the relative density decreased and the hardness reached the lowest at 1250℃. These are attributed to the more pore being generated by liquid Pool at 1250℃ and 1300℃. The result of the microstracture observation showed more M6C and MC carbide by liquid Pool as sintering temperature and holding time increased.