Preparation of a highly toughened (Ti,W)C-20Ni cermet through in situ formation of solid solution and WC whiskers

A highly toughened TiC-Ni type cermet was fabricated using nanosized TiC and WC powders. Nanosized TiC was synthesized by mechanical alloying and WC by supplementary heat treatment. During sintering with Ni, a solid-solution of (Ti,W)C and WC whiskers were synthesized in situ. A significant improvement of fracture toughness up to 16.56 MPa∙m1/2 was achieved. The high toughness of the cermet is attributed to the solid-solution strengthening of carbide phase and the WC whisker reinforcement.