XPS study of the cBN–TiC system

Sintered cubic boron nitride is widely used in various industrial applications because of its extreme wear and corrosion resistance, thermal and electrical properties. In order to obtain composite materials with these optimal properties it is important to elucidate whether chemical reactions occur at boron nitride/bonding phase interfaces. Some of these systems were then subjected to physical and thermal alteration This paper summarizes theoretical and experimental studies on the cBN–TiC 1:1 molar ratio. From theoretical calculations it follows that TiC reacts with boron nitride forming two new phases, TiB2 and TiN. Experimentally CBN–TiC composites were prepared by hot pressing, and the samples were subsequently heat treated. The samples were characterized after heat treatment using transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction.