Investigation on novel features during reactive synthesis of Ti3SiC2 ceramic

Ti3SiC2 ductile ceramic was synthesized through reactive sintering of 3Ti/SiC/C powder mixtures. Both diffusion controlled solid state reaction and combustion reaction were observed in this reaction system. In the former case, significant phase difference exists between the surface and the center of the as-synthesized products, the evaporation of silicon during sintering. process is responsible for this phenomena. The utilization of buffering powder bed can stabilize the silicon partial pressure, hence homogeneous phase composition throughout the product was obtained; while for the latter case, no great phase difference existed in the assynthesized products regardless the sintering temperature are different. The reaction paths for the above two cases are discussed in the present paper.