Plasma preparation and low-temperature sintering of spherical TiC–Fe composite powder

A spherical Fe matrix composite powder containing a high volume fraction (82vol%) of fine TiC reinforcement was produced us-ing a novel process combining in situ synthesis and plasma techniques. The composite powder exhibited good sphericity and a dense struc-ture, and the fine sub-micron TiC particles were homogeneously distributed in theα-Fe matrix. A TiC–Fe cermet was prepared from the as-prepared spherical composite powder using powder metallurgy at a low sintering temperature;the product exhibited a hardness of HRA 88.5 and a flexural strength of 1360 MPa. The grain size of the fine-grained TiC and special surface structure of the spherical powder played the key roles in the fabrication process.