Pressureless sintering kinetics analysis of Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₂AlC powdered MAX phases

This paper reports the pressureless sintering behavior and the activation energy of the powdered MAX phases Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₂AlC. A non-isothermal technique was used to determine the sintering kinetic parameter. The Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₂AlC MAX phases showed the maximum sintering rate at 1723 K, 0.14 and 0.10 µm/s, respectively. The sintering rate of the sample at different temperatures followed a cubic equation which was determined. The sintering activation energy (E_a) for the Ti₃SiC₂ and Ti₂AlC samples was 362.1 kJ/mol and 640.3 kJ/mol, respectively.