Open AccessLow‐temperature synthesis of high‐purity Ti 2 AlC powder by microwave sintering
Author(s) -
Zhou Weibing,
Li Kang,
Zhu Jiaoqun,
Tian Shouqin,
Zhu DaMing
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2018.0113
Subject(s) - materials science , sintering , molar ratio , microwave , chemical engineering , grain size , conductivity , analytical chemistry (journal) , metallurgy , catalysis , chemistry , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
In this work, Ti 2 AlC powders of high purity were prepared successfully by a facile microwave sintering technique which can reduce the sintering temperature from 1300 to 850°C obviously. This was probably because of the fact that the microwave field can decrease the activation energy of the particle surface, and improve ionic conductivity and the grain surface migration of charged vacancies. In addition, the purity of Ti 2 AlC powders can be controlled by adjusting the molar ratio of Ti/Al/C/TiC as a precursor. It was interestingly found that Ti 2 AlC powders with the highest purity of 96.6% were obtained at the molar ratio of Ti/Al/C/TiC = 1.5:1.0:0.5:0.45. This was probably attributed to the addition of TiC which favoured the formation of Ti 2 AlC. However, excess TiC would influence the reaction path in the Ti–Al–C system and thus reduce the purity of Ti 2 AlC. Therefore, this work can provide a facile method to synthesise other MAX powders.