“What is inside?” – Mapping TiC precipitates within electro-sinter forged titanium matrix composites (already assigned to a student)

The goal of this semester project is to characterize the three-dimensional structure of a two-phase system, sintered with an ultrafast sintering technique called ESF. ESF (Electro-Sinter Forging) is a process in which a combination of a pressure and an electrical pulse result in the sintering of the material. It is very energetic and ultrafast (less than one second), and as a result can produce structures that are rarely seen elsewhere. This process is owned by a company, EPoS Sintering, accessible here: https://www.eposintering.com/.

The material tested contains Ti and TiC precipitates. Different ESF sintering cycles and studies of resulting Ti/TiC in-situ composite materials have been already realized: the microstructure contains TiC precipitates with different shapes. A precise description of the shape of resulting TiC second phases has not been fully established; this will be the aim in this project. The tools available are the optical microscope, the SEM equipped with EDX and EBSD detectors, and XRD. One of the challenges to be addressed will be to find whether the particles can be revealed by selectively etching the Ti matrix.

The project will be entirely conducted at EPFL, LMM. Literature research and a good understanding of the process itself are also part of the project. This project is opened to a bachelor student or a master student.

Chargé de project: Gaëtan Denis

Contact: [email protected]