Rapid Reactive Synthesis and Sintering of Submicron TiC/SiC Composites through Spark Plasma Sintering

Submicrometer TiC/SiC composites were fabricated by a rapid reactive sintering process through spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique using the carbon, titanium, and nanosized‐SiC powders without any additive. It was found that the composite could be sintered in a relatively short time (8 min at 1480°C) to 97.9% of theoretical density. After sintering, the phase constituents and microstructures of the samples were analyzed by X‐ray diffraction techniques and observed by scanning electron microscopy. The effect of nanosized and microsized SiC additives on the microstructure of TiC/SiC composites was investigated.