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In this study, Ti3(Al,Ga)C2/Al2O3 composites were successfully synthesized by in situ hot pressing at 1350 ℃ for 2 h using Ti, Al, TiC, and Ga2O3 as raw materials. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizing the phase identities and microstructures of the sintered composites. The dependence of the Vickers hardness and flexural strength on the Al2O3 content was found to be in single-peak type. Ti3(Al0.6,Ga0.4)C2/10.3vol%Al2O3 composite exhibited significantly improved mechanical properties. Vickers hardness and flexural strength of the composite reached 6.58 GPa and 527.11 MPa, which were 40% and 74% higher than those of Ti3AlC2, respectively. Formation of solid solution and incorporation of second phase of Al2O3 resulted in the opposite influence on the fracture toughness. Finally, the hardening and strengthening mechanisms were discussed in detail.


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Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti3(Al,Ga)C2/Al2O3 composites prepared by in situ reactive hot pressing

Show Author's information Yuan FANGXiaohua LIUYuxia FENGJianfeng ZHU( )Wei JIANG
School of Material Science and Engineering, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Green Preparation and Functionalization for Inorganic Materials, Shaanxi University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710021, China

Abstract

In this study, Ti3(Al,Ga)C2/Al2O3 composites were successfully synthesized by in situ hot pressing at 1350 ℃ for 2 h using Ti, Al, TiC, and Ga2O3 as raw materials. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used for characterizing the phase identities and microstructures of the sintered composites. The dependence of the Vickers hardness and flexural strength on the Al2O3 content was found to be in single-peak type. Ti3(Al0.6,Ga0.4)C2/10.3vol%Al2O3 composite exhibited significantly improved mechanical properties. Vickers hardness and flexural strength of the composite reached 6.58 GPa and 527.11 MPa, which were 40% and 74% higher than those of Ti3AlC2, respectively. Formation of solid solution and incorporation of second phase of Al2O3 resulted in the opposite influence on the fracture toughness. Finally, the hardening and strengthening mechanisms were discussed in detail.

Keywords: microstructure, mechanical properties, Ti3AlC2, solid solution, ceramic composites

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DOI
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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 22 July 2020
Revised: 15 September 2020
Accepted: 26 September 2020
Published: 13 November 2020
Issue date: December 2020

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© The Author(s) 2020

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51705300), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M643559), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (2019JQ-775), Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Provincial Department of Education (19JK0152), and the Scientific Research Fund of Shaanxi University of Science & Technology (2017BJ-05).

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