Due to their enhanced mechanical properties and potentially wide applicability, there is considerable interest in the development of metal-matrix composites consisting of titanium borides in a titanium alloy matrix. Despite the development of a variety of different processing routes for these composites, there are relatively few ones capable of processing a fully dense, near-net shape component with a relatively fine dispersion of boride precipitates. This paper will discuss the in situ laser deposition of Ti-TiB composites using the laser engineered net-shaping (LENS™) process from a blend of elemental titanium (or titanium alloy) and boron powders. The microstructure of the LENS™ deposited Ti-TiB composite has been compared with that of a conventionally cast in situ composite of the same composition. The conventionally cast composite exhibits a significantly coarser scale microstructure. Thus, the ability to produce a fine dispersion of TiB precipitates in dense Ti-TiB composites of near-net shape using LENS™ processing can be attributed to the rapid solidification effects during such processing.
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Banerjee et al. (2002) studied this question.