摘要 |
A shaped refractory article of titanium diboride or other metal has a microstructure with a weight average grain diameter of from 0.5 to 5 microns and substantially no grains larger than 10 microns diameter, from 10% to 45% by volume being made up of interconnected pores the majority having a diameter not substantially greater than 5 microns, porosity and grain size being substantially uniform throughout the microstructure, the article containing not more than about 0.2% by weight of oxygen and not more than about 0.5% by weight of carbon. The article may include inert particulate material in a matrix of the porous metal boride. The article may be formed by forming a uniformly mixed body of reactants into shaped compacts and heating the compacts to cause evolution of carbon monoxide and formation of a coherent reaction sintered product. Numerous reaction schemes are given, but the following are preferred: 2TiO2+B4C+3C->2TiB2+4CO (1) TiO2+B2O3+5C->TiB2+5CO (2) |