Superior tensile fracture strength of hot isostatically pressed TiC–steel metallic composite fabricated by a novel infiltration

A metallic composite having TiC particle content as high as ~47 vol% in a cold work tool steel matrix was successfully fabricated by a novel infiltration process. The penetration of the liquid steel reached geometrically complex regions, such that no interfacial flaw was observed. The interface between the ferrite matrix and TiC was semicoherent with a faceted morphology consisting of low-index planes of each phase. Owing to these characteristics of the interface, neither interfacial decohesion nor cracking was observed after the tensile fracture. The initial failure occurred in the TiC particle by a {100} cleavage fracture. The cracks formed from each fractured TiC particle interlinked forming a major crack. The hot-isostatically pressed composite exhibited 16% higher strength (919 MPa) than the as-infiltrated composite (791 MPa). The fracture strength of the composite largely depended on the degrees of suppression of the TiC cracking and its propagation. The residual stresses pertaining to the TiC and steel matrix were measured by X-ray diffraction. They were not significant factors responsible for the increased fracture strength of the hot-isostatically pressed composite. The increased strength of the hot-isostatically pressed composite could be explained in terms of the mutually interactive influences of the load transfer mechanism, matrix toughening, reduced TiC contiguity, and M7C3 carbide bridging TiC particles.