Self-propagating high temperature synthesis of intragranular TiC-Ti ₃ AlC ₂ composites

TiC-Ti3AlC2 composites with a novel intragranular structure were fabricated by self-propagating high temperature synthesis technique using Ti, Al and C elemental powders. X-ray diffraction results indicated that the as synthesised composites were composed of TiC and Ti3AlC2, where the amounts of TiC were measured to be 5·4, 9·2 and 16·7 wt-%. Transmission electron microscopy observation showed that the globular TiC was located within the plate-like Ti3AlC2 grain, which confirms the ubiquitous existence of intragranular structure in the composites.