Shock-assisted synthesis of Ti5Si3 intermetallic compound

Synthesis of ultra-fine grained Ti5Si3 intermetallic compound has been investigated using shock-assisted reaction and transformation processes. In one case, shock-densified compacts of Ti and Si elemental powders are reacted in the solid-state, benefiting from defect-enhanced diffusion, to obtain fully reacted dense compacts of Ti5Si3 intermetallic with similar to 3 mu m grain size and microhardness of similar to 800 kg mm(-2). In another case, mechanically amorphized Ti-Si powders are dynamically densified and subsequently crystallized to produce a single-phase Ti5Si3 intermetallic with nanocrystalline structure and microhardness as high as 1400 kg mm(-2). In this paper we will describe the characteristics of Ti5Si3 intermetallic produced by these two shock-assisted reaction and transformation processes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.