TiH2 nanopowder was made by high energy ball milling. The milled TiH2 and CNT powders were then simultaneously synthesized and consolidated using pulsed current activated sintering (PCAS) within one minute under an applied pressure of 80 MPa. The milling did not induce any reaction between the constituent powders. Meanwhile, PCAS of the TiH2-CNT mixture produced a Ti-TiC composite according to the reaction (0.92TiH2 + 0.08CNT→0.84Ti + 0.08TiC + 0.92H2, 0.84TiH2 + 0.16CNT→0.68Ti + 0.16TiC + 0.84H2). Highly dense nanocrystalline Ti-TiC composites with a relative density of up to 99.7% were obtained. The hardness and fracture toughness of the dense Ti-8 mole% TiC and Ti-16 mole% TiC produced by PCAS were also investigated. The hardness of the Ti-8 mole% TiC and Ti-16 mole% TiC composites was higher than that of Ti. The hardness value of the Ti-16 mole% TiC composite was higher than that of the Ti-8 mole% TiC composite without a decrease in fracture toughness.

Fe-TiC composite powder was fabricated via two steps. The first step was a high-energy milling of FeO and carbon powders followed by heat treatment for reduction to obtain a (Fe+C) powder mixture. The optimal condition for high-energy milling was 500 rpm for 1h, which had been determined by a series of preliminary experiment. Reduction heat-treatment was carried out at for 1h in flowing argon gas atmosphere. Reduced powder mixture was investigated by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) and Laser Particle Size Analyser (LPSA). The second step was a high-energy milling of (Fe+C) powder mixture and additional powder, and subsequent in-situ synthesis of TiC particulate in Fe matrix through a reaction of carbon and Ti. High-energy milling was carried out at 500 rpm for 1 h. Heat treatment for reaction synthesis was carried out at for 1 h in flowing argon gas atmosphere. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results of the fabricated Fe-TiC composite powder showed that only TiC and Fe phases exist. Results from FE-SEM observation and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectros-copy (EDS) revealed that TiC phase exists uniformly dispersed in the Fe matrix in a form of particulate with a size of submicron.

Ultra-fine TiC/Co composite powder was synthesized by the carbothermal reduction process without wet chemical processing. The starting powder was prepared by milling of titanium dioxide and cobalt oxalate powders followed by subsequent calcination to have a target composition of TiC-15 wt.%Co. The prepared oxide powder was mixed again with carbon black, and this mixture was then heat-treated under flowing argon atmosphere. The changes in the phase, mass and particle size of the mixture during heat treatment were investigated using XRD, TG-DTA and SEM. The synthesized oxide powder after heat treatment at 700 has a mixed phase of TiO and CoTiO phases. This composite oxide powder was carbothermally reduced to TiC/Co composite powder by the solid carbon. The synthesized TiC/Co composite powder at 1300 for 9 hours has particle size of under about 0.4 m.

Ultrafine TiC-5%Co powders were synthesized by spray drying of aqueous solution of TiO slurry and cobalt nitrate, followed by calcination and carbothermal reaction. The oxide powders with carbon powder was reduced and carburized at under hydrogen atmosphere. During reduction, CO gas was mainly evolved by reducing reaction of oxides. Ultrafine TiC-5%Co powders were easily formed by carbothermal reaction at due to using ultrafine powders as raw materials. The ultrafine WC-TiC-Co alloy prepared by sintering of mixed powder of ultrafine WC-13%Co powder and ultrafine TiC-5%Co powder has higher sintered density and mechanical properties than WC-TiC-Co alloy prepared by commercial WC, TiC and Co powders

In the present, the focus is on the synthesis of nanostructured TiC/Co composite powder by the spray thermal conversion process using titanium dioxide powder has an average particle size of 50 nm and cobalt nitrate as raw materials. The titanium-cobalt-oxygen based oxide powder prepared by the combination of the spray drying and desalting methods. The titanium-cobalt-oxygen based oxide powder carbothermally reduced by the solid carbon. The synthesized TiC-15wt.%Co composite powder at 1473K for 2 hours had an average particle size of 150 nm.

Ultrafine TiC-15%Co powders were synthesized by a thermochemical process, including spray drying, calcination, and carbothermal reaction. Ti-Co oxide powders were prepared by spray drying of aqueous solution of titanium chloride and slurry, both containing cobalt nitrate, fellowed by calcination. The oxide powders were mixed with carbon powder to reduce and carburize at 1100~125 under argon or hydrogen atmosphere. Ultrafine TiC particles were formed by carbothermal reaction at 1200~125, which is significantly lower than the formation temperature (~1) of TiC particles prepared by conventional method. The oxygen content of TiC-15%Co powder synthesized under hydrogen atmosphere was lower than that synthesized under argon, suggesting that hydrogen accelerates the reduction rate of Ti-Co oxides. The size of TiC-15%Co powder was evaluated by FE-SEM and TEM and Identified to be smaller than 300 nm.

In the present study, the focus is on the synthesis of titanium carbide/cobalt composite powder by the spray thermal conversion process using metallic salt solution as the raw materials. Two types of oxide powders of Ti-Co-O system were prepared by the spray drying of two types of metallic salt solutions : titanium chloride-cobalt nitrate and powder-cobalt nitrate solutions. These oxide powders were mixed with carbon black, and then these mixtures were carbothermal reduced under a flowing argon atmosphere. The changes in the phase structure and thermal gravity of the mixtures during carbothermal reduction were analysed using XRD and TG-DTA. In the case of using the titanium chloride-cobalt nitrate solution, it could not be obtained TiC/Co composite powder due to contamination of the impurities during the spray drying of the solution. However, in tile case of using the powder-cobalt nitrate scullion, TiC-15 wt. %Co composite powder could be synthesized by the spray thermal conversion process. The synthesized TiC-15 wt. %Co composite powder at 120 for 2 hours has average particle size of 150 nm.

The pure Ti, Ni and carbon powders were reaction milled to synthesize the TiC-Ni based cermet powders with ultrafine microstructures. After milling, the ultrafine TiC or amorphous Ti-Ni phase was obtained, respectively, according to the milling condition. The effects of milling variables on the synthesizing behavior of the powders were investigated in detail. The sintered TiC-Ni based cermet of the reaction milled powders consisted of very fine TiC of 0.2~1.5m, as compared with that of a commercial cermet of 3~5m. This demonstrates the potenial of reaction milling as an effective processing route for the preparation of cermet materials.

Titanium cabide, TiC-x mole% Al composites, and functionally-graded materials (FGMs) of TiC-x mole% Al were synthesized by an electrothermal combustion (ETC) method. TiC-70 mole% Al composite was not ignited by indirect tungsten coil heating, but can be synthesized by an electrothermal combustion. The velocity of the combustion wave decreased with increasing addition of Al and increased with an increase in the applied electric field. Functionally-graded TiC-Al materials were made from reactant layers with compositions of Ti+C+x moles Al with x ranging from zero to 70 by an electrothermal combustion. In the FGM products a nearly linear change in composition in the graded region was observed in samples with 0 x 70 with x being the mole% Al.