Optimization of the Temperature and Time of Silicon Infiltration Process of Porous TiC Preforms for Fabrication of Nano-layered Ti3SiC2 Ceramics and Investigation its Mechanical Properties

The nano-laminated ternary carbide of Ti3SiC2 is a group of ternary ceramics which has received special attention over the last decade due to their unique combination of metals and ceramic properties. In this research, Ti3SiC2 bulks have been synthesized by reactive melt infiltration of porous TiC performs fabricated by gel casting process and the effect of time and temperature of infiltration process on the formation of Ti3SiC2 was discussed. The phase formation and microstructure were investigated by XRD and SEM equipped with EDS system. The results demonstrated that the best temperature and time in order to produce Ti3SiC2 with high purity were 1500 °C and 90 min, respectively. Ti3SiC decomposed into Si and TiC in furnace atmospheres at temperatures above 1500 °C. It is found thatthe compositions of samples strongly depended on the time of infiltration and with increase the infiltration time, Ti3SiC2 decomposed to TiC compound. The microhardness results showed that the Vickers hardness value increased with increasing of TiC volume content. Vickers hardness increases to the maximum value of 21.3 GPa for Ti3SiC2-85 wt.% TiC. A composite of the Ti3SiC2-12wt.% SiC had a measured fracture toughness of 5.63 MPam1/2.