Fabrication and characterization of in-situ TiAl matrix composite with controlled microlaminated architecture based on SiC/Al and Ti system

•A novel in-situ method was successfully created to prepare dense TiAl matrix composite sheets.•This innovative method involved hot-pressing and multi-step reactive annealing.•The introduction of SiC led to the formation of TiAl-carbide laminate composite sheets.•The phase transitions at various annealing stages were also investigated.

Fully dense microlaminated composite sheets consisting of alternating TiAl and carbide-layers have been successfully in-situ synthesized by hot pressing of multi-layered Ti-(SiCp/Al) sheets and subsequent multi-step reactive annealing. The phase transitions and reaction mechanisms at various annealing stages were investigated. Compared with monolithic TiAl, the introduction of carbide-layers and in-situ formed Ti5Si3 may significantly refine the lamellar microstructure of TiAl and thus the unique microlaminated TiAl matrix composite sheet is expected to be applied in the turbine blades and jet engines widely.