Investigation on the in-situ reaction mechanism of Ti2AlC/TiAl composite prepared by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Ti2AlC/TiAl composite has shown great potential for the lightweight high-temperature structural materials applied in the new generation of aerospace engines. Understanding the in-situ reaction mechanism of Ti2AlC/TiAl composite has been a long-standing challenge with great scientific and practical importance. In this work, Ti2AlC/TiAl composites were fabricated via spark plasma sintering at different temperature using Ti powders, Al powders and graphene nanosheets as raw materials. The state-of-the-art analytical tools were employed to give an in-depth investigation on the in-situ reaction mechanism of Ti2AlC/TiAl composite. It is innovatively found that the Ti2AlC is initially formed by the direct reaction between TiAl and TiC, and the growth of Ti2AlC is governed by a Ti2AlC prismatic plane-to-TiAl plane incoherent interface, which could provide atomic diffusion channel and promote the reaction between TiAl and TiC. These results could provide the theoretical guideline for the material design and performance optimization of Ti2AlC/TiAl composite.