Effect of Al addition on pressureless reactive sintering of Ti_3SiC_2

摘要

During pressureless reactive sintering of Ti_3SiC_2 we found that adding small amounts of Al (approx 0.68 wt. percent) to the powder mixture of Ti/Si/2TiC improves the density of the compact by 38 percent, and enhances the formation of the desired phase, Ti_3SiC_2. Further increase in the Al content-up to 2.7 wt. percent-did not show enhanced effect. The mechanism is believed to be the deoxidation of the starting powders by the molten Al.