The Effect of Holding Time on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Sintered NbC Composite
High frequency induction heated sintering (HFIHS) method is one of the rapid sintering methods. The advantage of rapid sintering method is that grain growth can be prevented during sintering at high temperature. Refinement of grains was known to increase the yield and flow stresses of crystals. The relation between the yield stress and the grain size is known as Hall-Petch relation. NbC-10vol.%Co, Ni and Fe composites were fabricated by HFIHS at 1060°C for 0 and 3 min as holding times under a pressure of 80MPa.The relative density of NbC-10vol.%Co, Ni and Fe composites which were sintered at 1060°C for 0min as holding time under 80MPa were 91.90%, 91.26% and 91.26%, respectively. These composites are difficult to use industrial parts due to low relative density. The longer sintering time was conducted for increasing relative density in this study. Nano-sized specimens, which were calculated grain size by full-width at half maximum (FWHM), can be obtained by HFIHS. The value of hardness and fracture toughness was investigated using 20kgf load Vickers indenter.