Abstract
In order to improve the mechanical properties of polycrystalline cubic
boron nitride (cBN) and titanium carbide (TiC) composites (cBN-TiC),
this study developed a two-step sintering process. The relationship
between microstructure (structure and chemical composition) and
mechanical properties for the cBN-TiC composites were investigated.
The results indicated that less byproducts were contained in the cBN-TiC
composites fabricated by the two-step sintering than those by a
conventional sintering. In addition, no byproducts or defects were
observed between cBN and TiC grains. The mechanical-test results
confirmed that the two-step sintering indeed promoted the hardness and
transverse rupture strength of the cBN-TiC composites.

Contents
Abstract..................................................................................................... I
Contents.................................................................................... ................II
Table captions..........................................................................................IV
Figure captions..........................................................................................V
Chapter 1 Introduction……………………………………………………1
Chapter 2 Experimental procedure……………………………………….3
2.1 Sample compaction and sintering…………………………………….3
2.2 Characteristics of sintered compacts…………………………………4
2.3 Structure observation…………………………………………………4
2.4 Surface roughness measuring instrument……………………………8
2.5 Atomic force microscopy (AFM)…………………………………...11
2.6 Contact angle……………………………..…………………………15
2.7 Chemical composition of sintered compacts………………………19
Chapter 3 Results and discussion………………………………………21
3.1 Chemical compositions…………………………………………….21
3.2 Microstructure………………………………………………………23
III
3.3 Physical and mechanical properties of the composites…………….24
3.4 Microstructure- mechanical properties relationship……………..…26
Chapter 4 Conclusions…………..………………………………………28
Reference………………………………………………………………29

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