Investigation on the effect of Al addition on synthesis of Ti3SiC2 nanostructure by Mechanical alloying - heat treatment method

In this study, the effect of Al addition in synthesis of Ti3SiC2 nanostrucure has been studied by mechanical alloying - heat treatment method and using the mixture of Ti, Si, C powders. The composition of 3Ti: 1.3Si: 2C: xAl (x= 0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) were used in order to evaluate the molar percent of aluminum in synthesis of Ti3SiC2 MAX phase. First the initial powders were weighed. Then, the powder mixtures were milled at the ball to powder ratio of 30:1 for 40 hours under argon atmosphere. After that they have been formed in pills under 200 MPa pressure. After the heat treatment of the samples at 1200 °C for 1 hour, an X-ray diffraction analysis was used to examine phase composition while a field emission scattering electron microscope equipped with an EDS spectrometer was utilized to observe the microstructure. The results indicate that the maximum amount of the synthesized Ti3SiC2 MAX phase is totally equal to 75wt.% and it is related to the sample of 3Ti:1.3Si:2C:xAl (x= 1%) which heat treated at the temperature of 1200°C. It was also observed that the weight percentage of the Ti3SiC2 MAX phase has decreased in the reaction products by increasing of the molar percent of aluminum from 1 to 1.5 %.