Development and evaluation of TiB₂–AlN ceramic composites sintered by spark plasma

Titanium diboride (TiB₂) is a ceramic material with high mechanical resistance, chemical stability, and hardness at high temperatures. Sintering this material requires high temperatures and long sintering times. Non-conventional sintering techniques such as spark plasma sintering (SPS) can densify materials considered difficult to sinter. In this study, TiB₂–AIN (aluminum nitride) composites were sintered by using the SPS technique at different sintering temperatures (1500 °C, 1600 °C, 1700 °C, 1800 °C, and 1900 °C). x-ray diffraction was used to identify the phases in the composites. mechanical properties such as hardness and indentation fracture toughness was obtained using a vickers indenter. Different toughening mechanisms were identified, and good densification results were obtained using shorter times and lower temperatures than those previously reported.