Abstract: Composite materials are provided based on titanium diboride and processes for their preparation.The composite materials contain(1) 70 to 98% by volume of titanium diboride,(2) 1 to 15% by volume of Fe.sub.2 B and(3) 1 to 15% by volume of Ti.sub.2 O.sub.3and have the following properties:density at least 93% of the theoretically possible density of the total composite material,hardness (HV10) greater than 1,900,bending fracture strength (measured by the three-point method at room temperature) at least 400 MPa andfracture resistance K.sub.IC (measured with a sharp incipient crack produced by the bridge method) of at least 4.5 MPa.sqroot.m.

Abstract: A wear-resistant hard metal free of tungsten carbide. The hard metal comprises: molybdenum carbide; a carbide of another transition metal; boron, boron nitride, boron carbide, or a mixture thereof, in an amount of 0.1 to 1% by weight boron, based on the weight of the molybdenum carbide, other transition metal carbide and boron-containing material, and a binder metal selected from the group consisting of metals of the iron group of the Periodic Table of Elements, and alloys thereof.