Combustion synthesis of Ti2(Al,Sn)C solid solutions from Ti/Al/Sn/C samples with addition of TiC and Al4C3

Preparation of the Ti2(Al,Sn)C solid solution with a broad substitutional proportion was conducted by combustion synthesis of TiC- and Al4C3-containing powder compacts. Experimental results showed that due to the dilution effect of TiC, relatively low combustion temperatures of about 1090 °C and reaction front velocities of around 2.4 mm/s were obtained for the TiC-added samples. As a result of containing larger amounts of Ti and carbon, the Al4C3-adopted samples were more energetic than the TiC-added samples. However, the high combustion temperature (1220-1450 °C) and rapid flame speed (6.13-13.87 mm/s) associated with the Al4C3-added sample were found to be unfavorable for the formation of Ti2(Al,Sn)C because probably of insufficient reaction time. On the contrary, Ti2(Al1-xSnx)C solid solutions with x=0.2-0.8 were successfully produced from the TiC-adopted sample. The synthesized Ti2(Al,Sn)C grains exhibited a plate-like morphology and formed a laminated microstructure.