Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti3SiC2 MAX phases sintered by hot pressing

The Ti3SiC2 used in this project has been purchased ready-made. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sintering temperature on samples' microstructure and mechanical properties, including three-point flexural strength, Vickers hardness, and fracture toughness. Therefore, Ti3SiC2 samples were sintered under a vacuum atmosphere at a pressure of 35 MPa for 30 minutes at two temperatures of 1500 °C and 1550 °C by hot pressing. The microstructure obtained from the fracture cross-section of the samples shows that by increasing the sintering temperature to 1550 °C, the microstructure of this sample becomes larger than the sintered sample at 1500 °C. Also, increasing the sintering temperature to 1550 °C causes the decomposition of Ti3SiC2 to TiC, which can be seen in the X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD). In addition, the relative density of the sintered sample at 1550 °C is 98.08% which is higher than that of the sintered sample at 1500 °C with the result of 89%. On the other hand, the three-point flexural strength (227.5 MPa), the Vickers hardness (~9 GPa), and the fracture toughness (8.6 MPa.m1/2) of the sintered sample at 1500 °C are higher due to the fine-grained structure.