High purity titanium aluminum carbide powders

High-purity titanium aluminum carbide (Ti3AlC2) powders were synthesized by a microwave sintering method using different titanium sources as raw materials. The prepared products were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results indicated that the synthesized Ti3AlC2 powders have high purity (97.5%) and even distribution of the grain size when using a 3TiH2/1.2Al/2C mixture as raw materials when the microwave sintering temperature and time were 1300°C and 30 minutes, respectively. The formation mechanism of the Ti3AlC2 is described as proceeding via four stages. The solid-phase reaction between titanium and aluminum occurs below aluminum's melting point of aluminum, and the main product is a Ti3Al phase, an observed intermediate compound for the formation of Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC2. Thus, this study provides a beneficial approach to the low-temperature synthesis of high-purity Ti3AlC2 materials. Titanium aluminum carbide, Ti3AlC2, one of the most promising advanced ceramics belonging to a member of the so-called MAX phases, has attracted increasing attention in recent years because of its unique combination of metal and ceramic properties. Like metals, it has excellent electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity, and high machinability. It has a low thermal expansion coefficient, high melting point, strength, and thermal stability like ceramics. These prominent properties make Ti3AlC2 a potential material for various functional and structural applications. A simple, highly efficient, and relatively low-temperature process for preparing nanosized Ti3AlC2 powder has been developed using Ti, Al, and C elemental powders as precursor materials without ball milling in NaCl–KCl molten salt. It is more conducive to synthesizing Ti3AlC2 at a higher mass ratio of the salt to precursor materials, and the particle size of the Ti3AlC2 powder dramatically decreases with the increasing mass ratio of the salt to precursor materials. The homogenous nanosized Ti3AlC2 powder is successfully synthesized at 950°C for five h or 1000°C for two h with a salt/precursor materials ratio of 10:1. In addition, the obtained nanosized Ti3AlC2 powder is characterized by high crystallinity and has high hydrophilicity, therefore nanosized Ti3C2 MXene is also easier to be prepared by etching the fine-grained Ti3AlC2 precursor in 40% HF solution at 60°C for two h. In addition, due to the highly defined morphology of Ti3C2, the application of Ti3C2 as a promising electrode material in supercapacitors will be explored in our future work. If you are looking for high quality, high purity and cost-effective Ti3AlC2, or if you require the latest price of Ti3AlC2, please feel free to email contact mis-asia.