Melt-SHS (self-propagating high-temperature synthesis), based on the SHS process and oxide reaction method, was used for preparation of TiB2/Al composites. The mass ratio of two reactants, Ti powder/TiO2, in initial powder mixture was varied from 0:1 to 1:0. The results showed that the 5 wt% TiB2/Al composites could be successfully produced by a reaction of aluminum powder, TiO2, and B2O3 in Al melt at 950 °C, while the reaction rate was slow. The addition of titanium powder helps to reduce the content of Al2O3 and destroy the coating structure of Al2O3 covered TiB2 particles, which leads to the acceleration of reaction process and improvement of particle concentration. A significant improvement was that TiB2 particles were dispersively distributed when the mass ratio of Ti powder/TiO2 was 2:3. As a result, the 5 wt% TiB2/Al composites fabricated by melt-SHS process with modified reactants ratio showed excellent tensile properties with the ultimate tensile strength as high as 114.24 MPa. Besides, the composite also showed superior ductility.

X-ray powder diffraction data for Mo2.85Al1.91Si4.81 are reported. The new Mo2.85Al1.91Si4.81 compound was successfully prepared using the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) technique. The starting atomic mixture of reactant powders was Mo+2(1−x)Si+2xAl with x=0.3. The final powder compound obtained by the SHS technique was determined to be Mo2.85Al1.91Si4.81 by ICP-AES. X-ray powder diffraction pattern of Mo2.85Al1.91Si4.81 was recorded using an X-ray powder diffractometer, Cu Kα radiation, and analyzed by automatic indexing programs. Mo2.85Al1.91Si4.81 was found to be hexagonal with a=4.6929(2) Å and c=6.5515(4) Å. The XRD results are in good agreement with those of Mo2.85Ga2Si4.15.