Avaliação da densificação do diboreto de titânio sinterizado por plasma pulsado

Titanium diboride (TiB₂) is a ceramic material that highlight because of its high mechanical resistance, chem-ical stability and hardness in high temperatures. However, characteristics as low sinterability and fracture toughness restrict its usage on termomechanical applications. Non-conventional sintering techniques as SPS and sintering aid as AlN and Si₃N₄ can reduce sintering temperature and increase fracture toughness of TiB₂. The objective of this work is to evaluate the efficiency of spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique on the manufacturing of titanium diboride. Aluminum nitride (AlN) was used as additive to reduce sintering tem-perature and time and enhance tib₂ densification. The results indicate that spark plasma sintering is an effi-cient technique in the densification of TiB2 – AlN ceramic composite. High degree of densification was achieved even using relatively short sintering time.