Synthesis of Ti3AlC2 by spark plasma sintering of mechanically milled 3Ti/xAl/2C powder mixtures

Elemental powders of Ti, Al and C were mechanically milled as starting materials for the fabrication of ternary carbide Ti3AlC2 by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The effect of Al content in the starting materials on the Ti3AlC2 synthesis was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to determine the phase identification and observe the microstructure of the synthesized samples. With increasing proper Al content, it was found that the purity of Ti3AlC2 increased and the sintering temperature reduced. The dense and high-purity Ti3AlC2 could be successfully fabricated from 3Ti/1.2Al/2C powders at a lower sintering temperature of 1050 °C, holding for 10 min. In addition, the reaction path for the formation of Ti3AlC2 in the present study was proposed.