Microstructure and mechanical properties of textured TiB2 ceramic fabricated by combination of catalyst and hot–forging

In the present work, the powder mixtures of TiB 2 containing 2.0mol.% carbon black with trace La 2 O 3 and Al 2 O 3 are used to fabricate textured TiB 2 ceramic using hot–pressing at 1800 °C, and then the TiB 2 ceramic is hot–forged. The results of microstructural observation indicated that the addition of the powder mixtures of Al 2 O 3 and La 2 O 3 was favorable to the rearrangement of the anisotropic TiB 2 grains, whereas was unfavorable to the improvement of the relative density during hot–pressing and hot–forging. The flexural strength and the fracture toughness of textured TiB 2 ceramic fabricated using the combination of oxides and hot–forging were improved significantly, whereas hardness did not show obvious change. The results here pointed to a novel method for fabricating textured TiB 2 –based ceramics.