High-temperature mechanical properties of preceramic paper-derived Ti3Al(Si)C2 composites obtained by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

In the present work, the flexural strength of Ti3Al(Si)C2-based composites was investigated at 25, 800 and 1000 °C using small punch technique. The composites were spark plasma sintered at 1150 °C and 50 MPa from preceramic paper with Ti3Al(Si)C2 powder filler. Sintered composites represent a multi-phase system with secondary TiC and Al2O3 phases and have more than 900 MPa of flexural strength at room temperature. It was revealed that at 800 °C the flexural strength of composites decreases to 690 MPa. At 1000 °C, the flexural strength of composites further decreased to 620 MPa, however, an anomalous displacement of punch was detected during the fracture test attributed to the Ti3Al(Si)C2 brittle-to-plastic transition of the fracture mechanism.