Laminated Object Manufacturing of in-situ synthesized MAX-phase composites

In this work green tapes comprised of TiC and SiC were further processed by lamination, pyrolysis and liquid silicon infiltration. The in-situ synthesis of MAX phase Ti3SiC2 by silicon infiltration was investigated and discussed. The synthesis was supported by thermodynamic calculations. The mechanical and microstructural properties of the siliconized composites were studied. The processing route, in combination with Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) resulted in the successful fabrication of a three-dimensional gear. The gear showed a defect-free structure with a linear shrinkage of less than 3% relative to the green state. Thus, this approach can be considered as a near-net-shaping process of ceramic components with complex geometries.