Design and production of the Zr₃Ti₂Si₃ intermetallic compound

The new ternary intermetallic compound Zr₃Ti₂Si₃, with a (Mn₅Si₃)16H crystal structure, was designed based on the information of the crystal structure of the related binary compounds Zr₅Si₃ and Ti₅Si₃ in order to be used in ultra-high temperature structural applications. By x-ray diffraction analysis, we demonstrate the possibility of substituting an entire layer of zirconium atoms with a layer of titanium atoms in the (Zr₅Si₃)16H. An analysis of atomic neighbor distances in each compound was done. It was found that the Zr–Si relative interatomic distance diminishes while the Ti–Si distance increases. This indicates that Zr–Si bond strength is maintained as in the binary Zr₅Si₃. The resulting ternary intermetallic compound has a 16H crystal structure and has a lower density than the original compound of zirconium silicide. This new compound, which is stronger than Ti₅Si₃ and lighter than Zr₅Si₃, is considered an excellent candidate of the next generation of intermetallic compounds for ultra-high temperature structural applications.