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.

本研究针对采用微波辅助烧结工艺制备的Al-TiC复合材料，系统探究了其电导率、热导率与力学性能。实验样本的烧结时长分别设置为3分钟、5分钟与8分钟。结果表明，含4体积百分比TiC且烧结时长为8分钟的试样，在所有制备得到的样本中拥有最优的电导率与热导率。此外，含8体积百分比TiC且烧结时长为3分钟的试样，其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）显微图像显示，当TiC添加量提升至12体积百分比时，颗粒会出现团聚现象。X射线衍射（X-ray diffraction，XRD）分析表明，由于微波烧结工艺的烧结时长较短，未检测到TiO₂与Al₄C₃这类有害相的存在。综合所得实验结果可知，TiC粉体添加量的提升会降低试样的电导率与热导率，而烧结时长的增加则会提升上述性能。