The influence of SPS heating rates on the synthesis reaction of tantalum diboride

Abstract

TaB2 is a material from the Ultra High Temperature Ceramics group and is rather unexplored because it is difficult to procure the raw materials and to densify TaB2. Using SPS technique to realize reactive sintering processes of powders mixture according to the reaction Ta + 2B → TaB2 makes it possible to achieve TaB2 in one technological step. The aim of the study was to determine the influence of heating rates on the synthesis reaction and on the multistage densification mechanisms during SPS processes. The mixture was sintered at constant parameters of 2200 °C, 48 MPa for 5 min with the usage of heating rates from 50 °C/min up to 400 °C/min. The densification processes were studied through analyzing the shrinkage of powder compacts during SPS (Spark Plasma Sintering) processes. The comparison of the densification curves indicates that the reactions do not proceed completely at slow heating rates. Namely, too low heating rates contribute to the sintering of tantalum before the synthesis reaction and demonstrate the presence of boron in liquid state. The best material obtained in this study has Young's modulus 571 GPa, Vickers hardness 20.7 GPa (HV1) and indentation fracture toughness KIC 4.7 MPa m1/2.

Keywords

• Tantalum diboride
• Reactive sintering
• Spark Plasma Sintering
• Ceramic materials