Preparation of Ti3SiC2 Material by Reactive Melt Infiltration Sintering and Its Flexural Strength

Using Ti, TiC and Si powders as raw materials, Ti3SiC2 material was prepared by reactive melt infiltration sintering process. The flexural strength and fracture morphology of the material were analyzed. The results show that highly pure and compact Ti3SiC2 material, whose Ti3SiC2 purity and porosity were 97.6% and 4.6% respectively, could be obtained with the molar ratio of 1∶2∶0.2 (Ti, TiC and Si powders) after sintering at 1 500 ℃ for 0.5 h. With increase of the Ti3SiC2 content, the flexural strength increased obviously, when purity of Ti3SiC2 material was 97.3%, the flexural strength could reach 252.5 MPa. A lot of layered Ti3SiC2 particles on the fracture, and there was no obvious interface between particles.