A Rapid and Facile Synthesis of Ti₃AlC₂ MAX phase by a Probe Sonication

Mixing of elemental powders is an important step in synthesizing ceramic materials by a solid-state reaction at high temperatures. Herein, facile probe sonication (PS) assisted mixing of elemental powders is reported without using a time-consuming ball milling method. It is found that 60 min of PS of elemental powders followed by pressure-less sintering at 1500 °C for 2 h under an inert atmosphere produces Ti₃AlC₂ MAX phase. Two-phase structural Rietveld refinement confirms that the composition of Ti₃AlC₂ in the final product increases from 30% to 99% with an increase in sonication time from 15 to 60 min. Further, Raman spectroscopy confirms that the observed vibrational modes correspond to only from the MAX phase without additional carbon traces. High-resolution electron microscopy analysis supports the structural changes of obtained MAX phase from Ti₂AlC to Ti₃AlC₂ with probe sonication time. The proposed method of mixing is rapid, facile, cost- effective, large-scale production of Ti₃AlC₂ and other possible MAX phases.