Hot compressive deformation behavior of an in-situ TiB whisker reinforced Ti matrix composite

An in-situ TiB whisker reinforced Ti matrix (TiBw/Ti) composite is fabricated by powder metallurgy technique followed by hot extrusion. Hot compressive deformation behavior of the composite, in which the TiB whiskers were oriented along the extruded direction, is investigated. The results indicate that the hot compressive resistance of the TiBw/Ti composite is higher than that of the unreinforced Ti, and hot compressive resistance of the composite in the direction parallel to the whisker orientation is higher than that in the direction perpendicular to the whisker orientation. The hot compressive resistance of the composite increases with increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature. With increasing test temperature, the rate of the decrement of the compressive flow stress of the composite is higher than that of the unreinforced Ti. With increasing amount of compressive deformation, more and more TiB whiskers rotate and break during deformation. The rotation of the whiskers is easier at higher temperature, while, at lower temperature it becomes more difficult and whisker breakage becomes much more serious.