The Effect of Rapid Microwave Sintering Process on the Electrical Conductivity, Thermal Conductivity and Mechanical Properties of Al-TiC Composites

In this research, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical properties of the Al-TiC composites which were sintered via microwave-assisted process were investigated. The specimens were sintered for 3, 5 and 8 minutes. The results have shown that the sample which contains 4 vol. % TiC and was sintered for 8 minutes, has the highest electrical and thermal conductivities among the other obtained ones. Besides that, the sample which contains 8 vol. % TiC and was sintered for 3 minutes, has dedicated the highest hardness and density to itself. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs have illustrated that by increasing the amount of TiC up to 12 vol. %, the agglomeration of particles occurs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) investigations have shown that due to the short duration of the sintering process in the microwave method, there is no trace of TiO2 and Al4C3 as pernicious phases. According to the obtained results, it becomes clear that increasing the amount of TiC powder leads to the reduction of electrical and thermal properties of the samples and increasing the sintering duration, leads to the increase of the mentioned properties.

本研究针对微波辅助烧结法制备的铝基碳化钛（Al-TiC）复合材料的导电性能、导热性能与力学性能开展了系统探究。实验试样的烧结时长分别设定为3分钟、5分钟与8分钟。研究结果显示，体积分数为4%的碳化钛（TiC）且烧结时长为8分钟的试样，其导电与导热性能在所有制备试样中最优。此外，体积分数为8%的碳化钛（TiC）且烧结时长为3分钟的试样，硬度与密度均为所有试样中的最高值。扫描电子显微镜（Scanning Electron Microscopy, SEM）观测图像表明，当碳化钛（TiC）添加量提升至12体积%时，试样颗粒会出现团聚现象。X射线衍射（X-ray Diffraction, XRD）分析结果证实，由于微波烧结工艺的烧结时长较短，试样中未检测到TiO₂与Al₄C₃这类有害相的存在。综合所有实验结果可知，碳化钛（TiC）粉末添加量的增加会降低试样的导电与导热性能，而烧结时长的延长则会提升上述性能。