Manufacturing of High Purity Cr2AlC MAX Phase Material and Its Characterization
Vyom Desai, Aroh Shrivastava, Arunsinh Zala, Tejas Parekh, Surojit Gupta, N.I. Jamnapara
Abstract
Abstract Present study discusses about a technique for producing high-purity Cr 2 AlC MAX phase materials and gaining insight into their thermal behavior for high-temperature applications. The research conducted involved synthesizing a pure layered ternary carbide Cr 2 AlC MAX phase material by mixing powders of Chromium, Aluminum, and Carbon and then subjecting them to two-step pressureless sintering process in argon atmosphere. First step involves the annealing of ball-milled mixture at 750 °C for 2 h followed by the second step in which the annealed mixture is subjected to heat-treatment at 1350 °C for 2 h. Analysis using XRD and Raman techniques revealed that the synthesized product consists of Cr 2 AlC phase, without any impurities. SEM studies confirmed that the Cr 2 AlC had a layered topography, while EPMA analysis indicated that the atomic percentage of Cr, Al, and C was consistent with the XRD phase analysis. XPS investigations confirmed the presence of Cr-C bonds representing M n+1 X n of the MAX phase material. TG-DSC results showed an approximately 2% increase in weight. The Cr 2 AlC phase exhibited an endothermic pattern below 725 °C, an exothermic pattern above it, and did not decompose up to 1400 °C in vacuum environment. High-temperature XRD analysis at various temperatures also confirmed no formation of Al 2 O 3 or CrO impurity compounds.