Low temperature synthesis of single-phase Ti3AlC2 through reactive sintering Ti/Al/C powders

Ti3AlC2 was rapidly synthesized by pulse discharge sintering Ti/Al/C (molar ratio 3:1.1:1.8) powder mixtures in a temperature range of 1200-1400 °C. The fully dense and single-phase Ti3AlC2 was obtained at sintering temperature 1250-1350 °C for 15 min and at 1300 °C for 15-60 min. The typical microstructure of polycrystalline bulk Ti3AlC2 consists of plate-like grains, and the grain size can be adjusted by choosing sintering temperature and time. The intermediate phases of AlTi3, AlTi, Ti3AlC and Ti2AlC were found during the reactive sintering process and the mechanisms for the Ti3AlC2 phase formation were proposed.