Study on feasibility of Ti3AlC2 synthesis by mechanical alloying and heat treatment

Abstract

Ternary carbides of titanium and aluminium were prepared via mechanical alloying and following heat treatment. Effects of the starting materials, milling time and heat treating temperature were investigated. In order to study the structural and morphological evolutions of the ball milled and annealed powders, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used. Results showed that the ball milling of TiO–Al–C as starting materials was unsuccessful for the synthesis of Ti3AlC2. On the other hand, ball milling of the elemental powders for shorter milling times led to the activation of powders and after longer milling times, Ti–TiC nanocomposite was obtained. Also, during the annealing of the 6 h milled sample, Ti3AlC2–Ti4Al2C2 nanocomposite was synthesised. At the end of milling, a very fine microstructure with narrow size distribution and spheroid particles was procured.