Molten salt synthesis of MAX phases in the Ti-Al-C system

The molten salt method was used to synthesise the MAX phase compounds Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC2 from elemental powders. Between 900-1000 °C, Ti2AlC was formed alongside ancillary phases TiC and TiAl, which decreased in abundance with increasing synthesis temperature. Changing the stoichiometry and increasing the synthesis temperature to 1300 °C resulted in formation of Ti3AlC2 alongside Ti2AlC and TiC. The type of salt flux used had little effect on the product formation. The reaction pathway for Ti2AlC was determined to be the initial formation of TiC1-x templating on the graphite and titanium aluminides.