A Study on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of TiC/Steel Composites Fabricated by Powder Metallurgy Process

In this study, TiC/steel metal matrix composites were fabricated by powder metallurgy process using Fe-alloy powders with 3 wt.% Cr and 10 wt.% Cr, respectively, as matrix material. Subsequently, the composite samples were heat treated by the annealing and quenching-tempering(Q-T), respectively, to understand the effect of heattreatment on the mechanical properties of the composites. The correlation between microstructure and structural strength depending on the chromium content and the heat treatment conditions was studied through tensile, compressive, and transverse rupture test and microstructural analysis. In the case of TiC/steel composite containing 10 wt.% Cr, the tensile strength and transverse rupture strength at room temperature were significantly lowered by the influence of coarse chromium carbide formed at the TiC/steel interface. On the other hand, both TiC/steel composites containing 3 wt.% Cr and 10 wt.% Cr showed much higher compressive strength of about 4 GP after quenching-tempering compared to the annealed specimens regardless of the presence of the chromium carbide.