Effect of Al addition on pressureless reactive sintering of Ti3SiC2

During pressureless reactive sintering of Ti3SiC2 we found that adding small amounts of Al (∼0.68 wt.%) to the powder mixture of Ti/Si/2TiC improves the density of the compact by 38%, and enhances the formation of the desired phase, Ti3SiC2. Further increase in the Al content—up to 2.7 wt.%—did not show enhanced effect. The mechanism is believed to be the deoxidation of the starting powders by the molten Al.