Preparation of Ti₂SnC Conductive Ceramics by Mechanical Alloying-Spark Plasma Sintering

Ti₂SnC exhibit unique properties combining the merits of metals and ceramics, which has attracted considerable attention. Ti, Sn and C elemental powders were used as raw materials to prepare Ti₂SnC conductive ceramic materials by mechanical alloying-discharge plasma sintering method. The effects of different mechanical alloying time and sintering temperature on the structure and properties of Ti₂SnC were studied. The results show that after the raw material powders by mechanical alloying for 10 h, self-propagating reaction generats Ti₂SnC, TiC ceramic phase, mix powder particle size small, and the phenomenon of reunion, the sintering of Ti₂SnC ceramic block Ti₂SnC（002） and TiC（111） diffraction peak intensity ratio（ITSC/ITC） reach 2.31, which has high density and hardness. And raw material powder ball mill still exist in the elemental state after 3 h, which does not react, ball mill mixing powders after sintering ceramic block of the Ti₂SnC content is higher, Ti₂SnC（002） and TiC（111） diffraction peak intensity ratio（ITSC/ITC） is 5.45, but when the sintering temperature is over 1000 ℃,the strong peak becomes lower, the ceramic block has low friction coefficient.