In situ Ti2AlC/TiAl composite was first fabricated by reactive hot-pressing technique at low temperature of 1150°C for 2 h using Ti3AlC2 and Ti–Al alloy powders. The composite with fine-grained structure consisted of TiAl, Ti3Al and Ti2AlC phases. The Vickers hardness, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the Ti2AlC/TiAl composite reached 5.2 GPa, 937.7 MPa and 7.7 MPa m1/2, respectively. The action mechanism for the composite was mainly attributed to the grain refinement, the uniform distribution of the dispersed Ti2AlC particles, transgranular cracking, crack deflection, crack bridging and pull-out of Ti2AlC.
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