Probing the oxidation behavior of Ti2AlC MAX phase powders between 200 and 1000 °C

Abstract Oxidation of commercial Ti 2 AlC MAX phase powders at 200–1000 °C has been investigated by XRD, XPS, SEM, STA and TGA coupled with FTIR. These powders are a mixture of Ti 2 AlC, Ti 3 AlC 2 , TiC and Ti 1.2 Al 0.8 . Oxidation at 400 °C led to disappearance of carbide phases from Ti 2p, Al 2p and C 1s XPS spectra. At 600 °C, powders changed from dark grey to light grey with a significant volume increase due to crack formation. Powders were severely oxidized by detecting rutile with minor anatase TiO 2 . At 800 °C, α-Al 2 O 3 was detected while anatase transformed into rutile TiO 2 . The cracks were healed and disappeared. At 1000 °C, the Ti 2 AlC powders were fully oxidized into rutile TiO 2 and α-Al 2 O 3 with a change of powder color from light grey to yellow. FTIR detected the release of C as CO 2 from 200 °C onwards but with additional CO above 800 °C.