Synthesis of Ti3SiC2 by high energy ball milling and reactive sintering from Ti, Si, and C elements

We present an original method of preparation of nanostructured Ti3SiC2 compound based on high energy ball milling and reactive sintering techniques. Starting materials are Ti, Si, and C elements. X-ray diffraction and secondary electron microscopy are used to identify the formed phases and to analyze the obtained microstructures. Lower milling intensity and shorter milling time are found as the best milling conditions in order to get an intimate mixture of the three elements without formation of detectable secondary phases. The optimized sintering temperature is equal to 1350 °C. A method used for minimizing the oxygen content in the final compound is presented.