Combustion synthesis of TiC-based ceramic-metal composites with high entropy alloy binder

Ceramic-metal composites TiC-High-Entropy Alloy (HEA) CoCrFeNiMe (Me = Mn, Ti or Al) were first produced by combustion synthesis method. Self-sustained synthesis occurs due to heat release from exothermic reaction Ti + C = TiC; the binder content was varied between zero and 40-50 wt.%. The combustion velocity and temperature gradually decreased with increasing binder content. Resultant materials consist of TiC grains and two-phase (fcc and bcc) binder. Vickers microhardness (100 g) of compacted cermet materials with 30 wt. % of binder was in the range of 10-17 GPa and increased with increasing bcc to fcc ratio. Based on experimental results and thermodynamic calculations, the mechanism of microstructure formation in TiC-HEA cermets was suggested.