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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Application

ISSN: 3048-6807

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Effect of Reinforcement Content on Hardness, Tensile Strength, and Wear Performance

Author(s):Ryszard Kowalczyk

Affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland

Page No: 84-89

Volume issue & Publishing Year: Volume 3, Issue 6, 2026/06/11

Journal: International Journal of Advanced Engineering Application (IJAEA)

ISSN NO: 3048-6807

DOI:

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Abstract:
Titanium and its alloys are the materials of choice for aerospace structural components, biomedical implants, and high-performance tribological applications on account of their exceptional specific strength, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. However, pure titanium suffers from relatively low hardness (approximately 200-320 HV), poor wear resistance characterised by adhesive galling against steel counterfaces, and a propensity for surface oxide delamination under reciprocating sliding contact -- limitations that restrict its adoption in bearing, cam, and sliding interface applications where hardened steels or ceramics are currently favoured. Particulate reinforcement with ceramic phases -- principally TiC, TiN, SiC, and TiB2 -- has been extensively investigated as a strategy for enhancing matrix hardness and wear resistance while preserving the density advantage and corrosion performance of the titanium base.
Titanium diboride (TiB2) is thermodynamically stable in titanium matrices, possesses hardness of 3,400 HV, elastic modulus of 530 GPa, and low density (4.52 g/cm3) -- making it near-ideal as a reinforcement phase that does not degrade the density advantage of the TMC relative to steel. The in-situ formation of TiB whiskers at TiB2-Ti interfaces during powder metallurgy sintering further enhances interfacial bonding compared to ex-situ SiC or Al2O3 reinforcements. Despite these advantages, a systematic quantification of the optimal TiB2 content -- balancing hardness and UTS improvement against the elongation penalty and porosity increase at higher reinforcement fractions -- across the 0-12 wt% range using spark plasma sintering (SPS) has not been reported under standardised Indian tribological test conditions.
This study investigates the microstructure, mechanical properties (Vickers hardness, ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, elongation), and tribological behaviour (wear rate, coefficient of friction under dry sliding pin-on-disc conditions) of Ti-TiB2 composites at 0, 3, 6, 9, and 12 wt% TiB2, fabricated by SPS at 950 degrees C, 50 MPa, 5 minutes dwell. XRD confirms phase constitution; EDS quantifies elemental distribution; SEM reveals worn surface morphology and pore structure. The 9 wt% TiB2 composite achieves optimum mechanical performance (438 HV; UTS 1042 MPa; wear rate 1.40 x 10-4 mm3/N.m) at 98.1% relative density, with the 12 wt% mix showing performance regression attributable to reinforcement clustering and porosity increase.

Keywords: titanium matrix composite, TMC, TiB2, titanium diboride, spark plasma sintering, wear resistance, hardness, tensile strength, tribology, pin-on-disc, XRD, EDS, SEM

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