Effect of heating rate on the purity of the ternary layered compound Ti3AlC2 powder synthesized by a low-cost rapid method

Abstract

A rapid heating method is explored to synthesize ternary layered compound Ti3AlC2 powder with high purity. With this method, the synthesis efficiency and purity of Ti3AlC2 powder were obviously improved by adjusting the heating temperature, time and rate. The effect of heating temperature, time and rate on the phase composition, purity and microstructure of the Ti3AlC2 powder is discussed in detail. Temperature below 1300 °C is insufficient for rapid synthesis of pure Ti3AlC2 powder. The raw mixture turns into pure Ti3AlC2 powder rapidly by heating at 1350 °C for 60 min when the heating rate is 17–19 °C/min, and more rapidly by heating at 1350 °C for 45 min when the heating rate is 50–56 °C/min. The grains in the obtained pure Ti3AlC2 powder are closely aligned layered structure. The present method is promising for rapid batch synthesis of pure Ti3AlC2 powder due to its advantages of low cost and high efficiency.