Titanium Powder Sintering in a Graphite Furnace and Mechanical Properties of Sintered Parts

Recent accreditation of titanium powder products for commercial aircraft applications marks a milestone in titanium powder metallurgy. Currently, powder metallurgical titanium production primarily relies on vacuum sintering. This work reported on the feasibility of powder sintering in a non-vacuum furnace and the tensile properties of the as-sintered Ti. Specifically, we investigated atmospheric sintering of commercially pure (C.P.) titanium in a graphite furnace backfilled with argon and studied the effects of common contaminants (C, O, N) on sintering densification of titanium. It is found that on the surface of the as-sintered titanium, a severely contaminated porous scale was formed and identified as titanium oxycarbonitride. Despite the porous surface, the sintered density in the sample interiors increased with increasing sintering temperature and holding time. Tensile specimens cut from different positions within a large sintered cylinder reveal different tensile properties, strongly dependent on the impurity level mainly carbon and oxygen. Depending on where the specimen is taken from the sintered compact, ultimate tensile strength varied from 300 to 580 MPa. An average tensile elongation of 5% to 7% was observed. Largely depending on the interstitial contents, the fracture modes from typical brittle intergranular fracture to typical ductile fracture.