Rapid Synthesis and Consolidation of Nanostructured Ti-TiC Composites from TiH2 and CNT by Pulsed Current Activated Heating

$TiH_2$ nanopowder was made by high energy ball milling. The milled $TiH_2$ 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 $TiH_2$-CNT mixture produced a Ti-TiC composite according to the reaction ($0.92TiH_2+0.08CNT{\rightarrow}0.84Ti+0.08TiC+0.92H_2$, $0.84TiH_2+0.16CNT{\rightarrow}0.68Ti+0.16TiC+0.84H_2$). 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.