Fabrication of titanium carbide reinforced iron matrix cermet by vacuum carbothermal reduction of ilmenite

Iron matrix cermet reinforced with TiC has been produced by vacuum carbo-thermal reduction of ilmenite followed by sintering processes. The influences of reduction temperature and carbon mass ratio were discussed in detail. X-Ray diffraction (XRD), electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and scanning elec-tron microscope (SEM) with energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) were emp-loyed to characterize the phase composition and microstructures. After carbo-thermic reduction, most of Mg, Mn, Ca evaporated from the sample; Si and part of Al was dissolved in the iron matrix. The obtained powders were used as the raw materials to produce TiC-Fe cermet by vacuum sintering. Density, hardness and bending strength of the samples were examined. The optimal cermet products after heat treatment had a density of 5.38 g center dot cm(-1), a hardness of 1125.5 HV and a bending strength of 667 MPa, which was obtained at the carbon/ilmenite mass ratio of 0.378:1 at 1773 K under the pressure of 10 Pa.