Combustion synthesis of TiB ₂ based hard material cemented by Fe-Al intermetallics

TiB ₂ based hard material has been fabricated by combustion synthesis from elemental powders using Fe-Al intermetallics as the binder phase. Both the crystal orientation map and the pole figures by electron backscatter diffraction analysis showed that the TiB ₂ particles have no preferential orientation. Preheating of the power compact is helpful to increase the relative density and to reduce the particle size of the synthesised product, which increases the hardness of the product. The highest hardness and relative density were achieved for a composition of TiB ₂-20 vol.-%FeAl