Preparation and Performance of TiC Whisker Toughening Alumina Ceramic Cutting Tool Composite

A TiC whisker toughening Al2O3-based ceramic cutting tool composite named ATW30 was developed by a two-step in situ synthesis technology. The fracture toughness, flexure strength and Vickers hardness of the composite were 7.63MPa.m(1/2), 800MPa and 19.5GPa, respectively. Compared to a (W, Ti)C particle strengthening Al2O3-based ceramic cutting tool composite named SG4, ATW30 was with lower flexure strength and Vickers hardness but much higher flexure strength, and therefore obviously higher wear resistance at either lower or higher cutting speed. The dominant wear mechanism on the flank face of ATW30 is abrasive wear at lower cutting speed and adhesive wear at higher cutting speed. Because of the appearance of the adhesive wear, the wear resistance of ATW30 at higher cutting speed is lower than that of itself at lower cutting speed.