Fabrication of Textured Porous Ti3SiC2 by Slip Casting under High Magnetic Field and Microstructural Evolution through High Temperature Deformation

To clarify the effect of constraint conditions on the kink formation, fabrication process of the texture and porosity controlled Ti3SiC2 polycrystals was investigated and microstructural evolution during high temperature deformation was examined in it under high temperature uniaxial compression tests at 1200 degrees C. Dense textured Ti3SiC2 sintered body was fabricated by slip casting in the high magnetic field of 12 T and following pressureless sintering at 1400 degrees C for 1 h. The porosity of the textured Ti3SiC2 was controlled by dispersing polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) particles into the textured Ti3SiC2 as a spacer media. The highly textured Ti3SiC2 polycrystals with porosity of 8.4 vol% and 16.7 vol%, respectively, were successfully fabricated by the slip casting in the high magnetic field. After the high temperature uniaxial compression perpendicular to the c-axis of the textured structure, both the porous and dense Ti3SiC2 showed kink formation, which is a common deformation mode for anisotropic layered materials. However, the average rotation angles of the kink boundaries were higher in the porous specimen than in the dense specimen. Since the crystal rotation is necessary for the kink formation, kink bands would be preferably developed in the porous area due to its weaker constraint than in the dense area. It can be concluded from the microstructural analysis that the constrain factor caused by the neighbor grains affects the crystalline rotation, resulting in the kink boundary formation with different rotation angles.