Thermodynamic analysis of Ti-Al-C intermetallics formation by mechanical alloying

In the present study the behavior of Ti-Al-C ternary system is investigated during mechanical alloying. The mixture of Ti, Al and C powders was used with initial stoichiometric composition of Ti3AlC2. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to characterize the milled powders and a thermodynamic analysis of the process was then carried out using Miedema model. This thermodynamic analysis showed that for all binary Ti-C, Al-C, Ti-Al systems and ternary Ti-Al-C systems, among all compositions, the thermodynamic driving force for intermetallic phase formation is much greater when compared with the formation of solid solutions or amorphous phases. Finally the reactions that are feasible to occur during mechanical alloying (MA) of Ti-Al-C system were investigated thermodynamically.