Synthesis of TiC–CoCrFeNiAl Cermet from Powder Mixtures: Effect of Titanium Particle Size on Combustion Velocity and Phase Composition of Products

The effect of the particle size of Ti powders from different batches of the same brand and the binder content up to 30% on the combustion pattern and phase composition of TiC–CoCrFeNiAl metal ceramics synthesized from bulk-density powder mixtures was studied. The different dependence of the combustion velocity of titanium-based mixtures on the total content of high-entropy binder components was explained using convective–conductive combustion model by different conditions of heating the titanium particles ahead of the combustion front. The inhibitory effect of the impurity gas on the combustion front velocity of powder mixtures was determined quantitatively. The analysis of the combustion products' phase composition revealed that using finely dispersed titanium in cermet production resulted in a product free of intermetallic side phases for all X below 30%. In contrast, using coarse titanium achieved this only at X = 30%.