In situ TiB whiskers have a hexagonal shape in the transverse section and grow along the [010]TiB direction. The crystallographic planes of the TiB whiskers in the transverse section are always (100), (101) and (101). The stacking faults in TiB are typically with a stacking fault plane of (100)TiB. The locations of boron atoms and the lattice mismatch energy between TiB and Ti matrix play key roles in the formation of stacking faults.

A novel sol–gel process has been successfully developed for preparing strontium bismuth tantalite (SrBi2Ta2O9, known as SBT) with ethylene alcohol as a solvent and acetic acid as a catalyst. The size of phase-pure SBT nanoparticles could be 4 nm in diameter by avoiding the formation of the fluorite phase at the low temperatures (550–600◦C). The behavior of the crystallization in SBT is investigated by XRD, TG-DTA, FT-IR and TEM. The nanoparticle size as a function of the annealing temperature is also investigated. By fitting the Arrhenius curve, we obtain the crystalline and vitreous growth activation energies, i.e, Ea1 = 0.709 eV and Ea2 = 0.093 eV. The two other fitting parameters, transition temperature T0 = 814 K (541◦C) and transition width △= 0.022, directly show the behavior of the phase transition from vitreous phase to crystalline phase.

The in situ TiB/Ti–4.0Fe–7.3Mo composites were fabricated by plasma spark sintering (SPS) technique using mechanical alloying of Ti, Fe65Mo and B powder. The effects of sintering temperature on densification of the composites and microstructure of the in situ synthesized TiB were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). A dense composite was obtained after sintering at 1000 ◦C for 5 min. Under proper ball milling and SPS conditions in situ TiB reinforced Ti–4.0Fe–7.3Mo composites have been prepared. The in situ TiB showed a typical needle shape grow along [010] direction. The transverse cross-section of TiB grain is a hexagonal shape with the planes of (100), (101) and (101). The stacking faults in the (100) plane were observed in the TiB needles.

The in situ synthesized TiB reinforced titanium matrix composites have been prepared by spark plasma sintering at 800–1200 ℃ under 20 MPa for 5 min. The effects of sintering temperature and reinforcement volume fraction on flexural strength, Young’s modulus and fracture toughness of the composites are investigated. The titanium matrix consists of α-Ti and β-Ti phases, and the volume fraction of β-Ti increases with increasing sintering temperatures. The in situ synthesized TiB reinforcements are distributed randomly and uniformly in matrix. The transverse section of TiB has a hexagonal shape aligned along [010] direction, and the crystallographic planes of the TiB needles are always of the type (100); (101) and (101). The 10 vol% TiB reinforced composite sintered at 1000 ℃ exhibits excellent mechanical properties. The flexural strength, Young’s modulus and fracture toughness of this composite are 1560 MPa, 137 GPa and 8.64 MPa·1/2, respectively.

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramics incorporated various amount of titanium diboride (TiB2) were fabricated by hot pressing at 1800℃ for 1 h. The influence of TiB2 on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Si3N4 ceramic was investigated. When a small amount of TiB2 (2vol.%) was added, the mechanical properties of Si3N4 were improved significantly, whereas they began to degrade when more TiB2 (＞4vol.%) was introduced. The reaction between TiB2 and Si3N4 matrix is responsible for the variation in mechanical properties of the TiB2/Si3N4 composites.