Fabrication and Microstructure Characterization of Ti3SiC2 Synthesized from Ti/Si/2TiC Powders Using the Pulse Discharge Sintering (PDS) Technique

Abstract

Ti/Si/2TiC powders were prepared using a mixture method (M) and a mechanical alloying (MA) method to fabricate Ti3SiC2 at 1200°–1400°C using a pulse discharge sintering (PDS) technique. The results showed that the Ti3SiC2 samples with <5 wt% TiC could be rapidly synthesized from the M powders; however, the TiC content was always >18 wt% in the MA samples. Further sintering of the M powder showed that the purity of Ti3SiC2 could be improved to >97 wt% at 1250°–1300°C, which is ∼200°–300°C lower than that of sintered Ti/Si/C and Ti/SiC/C powders using the hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) technique. The microstructure of Ti3SiC2 also could be controlled using three types of powders, i.e., fine, coarse, or duplex‐grained, within the sintering temperature range. In comparison with Ti/Si/C and Ti/SiC/C mixture powders, it has been suggested that high‐purity Ti3SiC2 could be rapidly synthesized by sintering the Ti/Si/TiC powder mixture at relatively lower temperature using the PDS technique.