In-situ synthesis of Ti₃SiC₂ via FHP method

MAX phase Ti₃SiC₂ has been synthesized via fast hot pressing (FHP) based on the raw materials of Ti, Si, TiC and Al powders with a molar ratio of 1:1.2:2.3:0.3. The theoretical thermodynamic calculation and DSC test were adopted to verify the feasibility of the synthetic route and sintering temperature. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) result indicated that there were few impurity phases except Ti₃SiC₂ formed in the sintered sample. The sectional morphology was observed by scanning electron microscope with almost all the platelike-shaped phases, which conformed to the morphology feature of Ti₃SiC₂. Transmission electron microscopy has been brought to demonstrate the accurate phase composition as Ti₃SiC₂ combined with the PDF card of XRD analysis.