English

High-temperature neutron diffraction and first-principles study of temperature-dependent crystal structures and atomic vibrations in Ti3AlC2, Ti2AlC, and Ti5Al2C3

Materials Science 2015-06-15 v1

Abstract

Herein we report on the thermal expansions and temperature-dependent crystal structures of select ternary carbide MAX phases in the Ti-Al-C phase diagram in the 100-1000 deg C temperature range. A bulk sample containing 38 wt.% Ti5Al2C3, "523"), 32wt.32 wt.% Ti2AlC ("211"), 18 wt.% Ti3AlC2 ("312"), and 12 wt.% (Ti{0.5}Al{0.5})Al is studied by Rietveld analysis of high-temperature neutron diffraction data. We also report on the same for a single-phase sample of Ti_3AlCAlC_2forcomparison.ThethermalexpansionsofalltheMAXphasesstudiedarehigherinthe for comparison. The thermal expansions of all the MAX phases studied are higher in the cdirectionthaninthe direction than in the a$ direction. The bulk expansion coefficients - 9.3 x 10^-6 for Ti5Al2C3, 9.2 x 10^-6 for Ti2AlC, and 9.0 x 10^-6 for Ti3AlC2 - are comparable within one standard deviation of each other. In Ti5Al2C3, the dimensions of the Ti-C octahedra for the 211-like and 312-like regions are comparable to the Ti-C octahedra in Ti2AlC and Ti3AlC2, respectively. The isotropic mean-squared atomic displacement parameters are highest for the Al atoms in all three phases, and the values predicted from first-principles phonon calculations agree well with those measured.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1304.0068,
  title  = {High-temperature neutron diffraction and first-principles study of temperature-dependent crystal structures and atomic vibrations in Ti3AlC2, Ti2AlC, and Ti5Al2C3},
  author = {Nina J. Lane and Sven C. Vogel and El'ad N. Caspi and Michel W. Barsoum},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1304.0068},
  year   = {2015}
}