Fabrication of monolithic bulk Ti3AlC2 and impurity measurement by K-value method

Polycrystalline bulk Ti3AlC2 material with high purity and density was fabricated by hot pressing from the powder mixture with the starting stoichiometric mole ratios of 2.0TiC/ 1.0Ti/ 1.1 Al/ 0.1 Si at 1 300–1 500 °C. X-ray diffraction patterns and scanning electron microscopy photographs of the fully dense samples indicate that the proper addition of silicon is favorable to the formation of Ti3AlC2, consequently results in high purity of the prepared samples. The Ti3AlC2 hot pressed at 1 300 °C and 1 400 °C is in plane-shape with sizes of 6–8 μm and 15–20 μm in the elongated dimension, respectively. The purities of samples are measured by the K-value method, and the contents of TiC are given by a linear equation.