Hot forging of graphite-carbide composites. Final report Page: 1 of 4
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Hot Forging of Graphite-Carbide Composites
Gwyn Morgan Jenkins
&
Lawrence Rozier Holland
DOE Research Grant # DE-FG05-92ER54162
Final Report - 15 July 1998
This project was aimed at hot shaping of titanium carbide/graphite and vanadium carbide/graphite
composite materials by heating them to above 2000 degrees celsius and pressing into an
electrographite die. The sample was to be a preformed cylinder of powdered graphite mixed with
powdered titanium or vanadium, lightly sintered. The preform would be heated in a hot press and
the titanium or vanadium would react with some of the graphite to form titanium or vanadium
carbide. The remaining (excess) graphite would form a composite with the carbide, and this could
then be deformed plastically at temperatures well below the onset of plasticity in pure graphite.
There were to be two major thrusts in the research: In the first, an electron beam furnace at Sandia
Laboratory was to be used for rapid heating of the sample, which would then be transferred into
the press. The second thrust was to be entirely at Alabama A&M University, and here we intended
to use a heated, controlled atmosphere press to forge the graphite/carbide preforms at a steady
temperature and measure their viscosity as a function of temperature.
The Department of Energy granted the contract on 15 June 1992, and work began at once on
purchase and installation of the necessary hot press at Alabama A&M University. Dr. Jenkins
would lead the project and arrange the work at Sandia, while Dr. Holland was responsible for the
technical work at Alabama. Dr. Jenkins had arranged for the preforms to be made by Dr. Haskell
Scheinberg of Los Alamos National Laboratory for both thrusts.
The Alabama hot press was designed and the contract for its construction was let on 24 September
1992. The furnace system was fabricated by Materials Research Furnaces (MIRF) of Suncook,
New Hampshire. The base price was $89,869, and there were two change orders for $1,642 and
$650, which were to improve the physical sensing and data recording systems. The hot press
system was finally installed and activated in January of 1993, somewhat behind schedule.
Late in 1992 Dr. Jenkins was incapacitated by a health problem, and it became necessary for him
to return to Great Britain temporarily. Meanwhile problems arose with respect to securing the
preform samples from Los Alamos. A no cost extension was requested and granted, and finally
Dr. Holland took over the project in February of 1994. Still hoping that Dr. Jenkins would be
sufficiently recovered to finish the work, a second extension was requested to the end of 1994.
Unfortunately the preform samples were never forthcoming, and Dr. Holland considered it too
dangerous to work with finely divided titanium or vanadium in the facilities available in Alabama.
Both of these metals can react violently with air, and there is substantial explosion hazard.
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Jenkins, G. M. & Holland, L. R. Hot forging of graphite-carbide composites. Final report, report, July 15, 1998; Normal, Alabama. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc690333/m1/1/: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.