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.