UPSCALED SELF-PROPAGATING HIGH TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS (SHS)/DYNAMIC COMPACTION PROCESSING

THIS PROPOSAL IS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF MONOLITHIC LOW POROSITY TIC AND TIB2 USING ELEMENTAL POWDERS TO GENERATE THE COMPOUND VIA EXOTHERMAL SELF-PROPAGATING HIGH-TEMPERATURE SYNTHESIS (SHS). ALONG WITH COMPOUND SYNTHESIS, THE EXCESS HEAT WILL BE USED FOR DENSIFICATION AND NET SHAPING THROUGH THE APPLICATION OF AN EXTERNAL STRESS, BY DYNAMIC COMPACTION (DC). THE SCHEME WILL ALLOW CONTROLLED DENSIFICATION OF THE SHS COMPACTS IN CONDUCTIVE GRANULAR GRAPHITE COMPACTION MEDIA UNDER VACUUM USING A THERMO-MECHANICAL SIMULATOR. AFTER STARTING THE SHS REACTION, THE GRANULAR MEDIA WILL BE LOADED AT HIGH STRAIN RATES, WITH CONTROLLED TIME DELAYS, STRAINS, STRESSES, DENSITIES, AND LOADS. IT WILL ALLOW MEASUREMENT OF DENSIFICATION VERSUS TEMPERATURE, STRAIN RATE, AND STRESS. THIS GIVES THE ADVANTAGE OF SEPARATING THE SHS PARAMETERS FROM THE DC PARAMETERS, WHILE ALLOWING RAPID HEATING, THERMAL BOOSTING, DEGASSING, AND GIVING PLANAR FRONT INITIATION OF THE REACTION. THIS WILL GIVE A RAPID, PRESSURE-ASSISTED CONSOLIDATION TECHNIQUES THAT MINIMIZES PRODUCTION PROBLEMS THROUGH STATISTICAL DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS PIVOTED AROUND THE BASIC SHS/DC PROCESS. IT WILL PROVIDE A BASIS FOR MANUFACTURING BOTH TIC AND TIB2 IN LARGE QUANTITIES, ENABLING RAPID ASSESSMENT OF THE LATENT APPLICATIONS FOR THESE COMPOUNDS BY MAKING AVAILABLE LOW COST, HIGH QUALITY MATERIALS.