Nanostructured and High Strength Titanium Boride (TiB)

Description
Top panel shows the microstructure consisting of bundles of extremely thin-sized (about 50 nm) whiskers. The bottom panel shows the room-temperature four-point flexural strength of TiB about three times that of the commercially available material, titanium diboride (TiB2)

What makes nanostructured TiB unique among the above competition is that TiB seems to be one of the few truly nanostructured, ceramic material. This probably is the reason for the high strength levels of the order of 800 MPa in this material. The material also undergoes fragmentation during fracture creating interest for armor applications.

Implications
Some potential applications of this material can be wear resistant components such as die inserts for extrusion dies, nozzles, armor, electrodes for metal refining etc.

Research Group Contacts
Professor Ravi Chandran of Metallurgical Engineering.

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