Fabrication of textured Ti2AlC lamellar composites with improved mechanical properties

Textured Ti2AlC lamellar composites have been successfully fabricated by a new method in the present work. The composites exhibit high compressive strength of ca 2 GPa, fracture toughness of 8.5 MPa m(1/2) (//c-axis), flexural strength of 735 MPa (//c-axis) and high hardness of 7.9 GPa (//c-axis). The strengthening mechanisms were discussed. The sintering and densification process was investigated and crystal orientation and microstructure were studied by electron backscattered diffraction techniques. The synthesis temperature is reduced to 1200 degrees C by using high surface-to-volume ratio Ti2AlC nano flakes. The Lotgering orientation factor of Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC2 {00l} planes in the textured top surface reaches 0.74 and 0.49, respectively. This new route may shed light on resolving the difficulties encountered in large scale fabrication of textured MAX phases. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.