Fabrication and properties of TiC-high manganese steel cermet processed by 3D gel printing

3D printing is attractive for the fabrication of complex, three-dimensional parts from metallic powder based on a computer-aided design model. Here, we report an extrusion-based 3D gel printing (3DGP) for difficult to machine TiC-high manganese steel bonded carbide. The effect of rheological and crosslinking properties of steel bonded carbide slurries (inks) on their “printability” were explored, with strong emphasis on the optimization of ink formulation. 3DGP enables the control of printing parameters, and thus the resulting complex green bodies with accurate size and dense structure. A nearly full densification level and uniform microstructure of the 3DGP samples were achieved after sintering. Interestingly, a typical core–shell structure formed by TiC-Mo2C solid solution appeared and improved the reinforcement/matrix wettability. The 3DGP sample showed excellent high-stress abrasion resistance due to the work hardening ability of high manganese steel matrix and its excellent adhesion with TiC particles. 3DGP provides a reliable way to manufacture TiC-high manganese steel cermet and similar metal matrix composites, and has the potential to be used to design and develop multiphase composite material as well as gradient composite.