Date of Award
8-1-2015
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Mechanical Engineering
First Advisor
Koc, Rasit
Abstract
Metal carbides have attracted much attention over the past several years due to their unique qualities. The purpose of this research is to develop a cermet that demonstrates desired properties of nano-size titanium carbide (TiC) and copper-nickel (Cu-Ni) metals. In this study stoichiometric, nano-size TiC was synthesized through a patented carbothermal synthesis process (U.S. Patent No.: 5,417,952). The resulting TiC was sintered with varying copper (12.5-37.5wt %) and nickel (12.5-25wt %) contents. Hardness, fracture toughness, and microscopy studies were performed. Average hardness ranging between 325-1292 HV were found, with copper content showing a strongly negative correlation with hardness. Fracture toughness values were found to be between 4.85-14.36 Mpa*m^.5; TiC content had a nearly linear, negative correlation with fracture toughness. Samples with high copper to nickel ratios showed poor homogeneity and wetting.
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