Synthesis of Fine Grain Ti3SiC2 by Spark Plasma Sintering with Additive of Aluminum

High purity polycrystalline titanium silicon carbide (Ti3SiC2) was synthesized by spark plasma sintering (SPS) with additive of Aluminum at low temperature of 1100~1300oC. XRD results showed that the content of Ti3SiC2 in the synthesized bulks increased with the addition of Aluminum, however, the lattice parameters of Ti3SiC2 samples with different amounts of additive exhibited scarcely change. With a starting powder of 1Ti/1.2Si/2TiC/0.1Al (molar ratios), dense Ti3SiC2 ceramic (98vol.%Ti3SiC2) was obtained by sintering at 1100oC for 5min under a pressure of 30MPa. Fine Plate-like grains of the samples with sizes of 2~6μm could be identified by scanning electronic microscope (SEM).