Ti₃AlC₂-Al₂O₃-TiAl₃ composite fabricated by reactive melt infiltration

Porous preforms were fabricated by cold-pressing process using powder mixture of TiC, TiO₂ and dextrin. After pyrolysis and sintering, Al melt was infiltrated into the porous preforms, leading to the formation of Ti₃AlC₂-Al₂O₃-TiAl₃ composite. Effects of cold-pressing pressure of preforms on microstructures and mechanical properties of the composites were studied. Synthesis mechanism and toughening mechanism of composite were also analyzed. The results shows that TiO₂ is reduced into Ti₂O₃ by carbon, the decomposition product of dextrin, which causes the spontaneous infiltration of Al melt into TiC/Ti₂O₃ preform. Then, Ti₃AlC₂-Al₂O₃-TiAl₃ composite is in-situ formed from the simultaneous reaction of Al melt with TiC and Ti₂O₃. With the increase of cold-pressing pressure from 10 MPa to 40 MPa, the pore size distribution of the preforms becomes increasingly uniform after pre-sintering, which results in the reduction of defects, and the decrease of property discrepancy of composites. Nano-laminated Ti₃AlC₂ grains and Al₂O₃ particles make the fracture toughness of TiAl₃ increase remarkably by various toughening mechanisms including stress-induced microcrack, crack deflection and crack bridging.