Effect of Electric Current on Diffusion of Aluminum in Ti3AlC2 into Zirconium Alloy

The spark plasma sintering（SPS） method was used to study the mechanism of reaction interface between Zr and Ti3AlC2 with electric current going through it. It was found that electric current greatly reduced the bonding temperature of Zr and Ti3AlC2. By the micro-structure analysis of the interface through SEM/EDS, it was found that Al atoms diffused from the Ti3AlC2 substrate into the Zr side and reacted with Zr to form the Zr-Al compounds at the interface, which is the strengthening mechanism of Ti3AlC2-Zr bonding. The thickness of reaction layers（Zr-Al alloy） was from 0.879 to 13.945 mm depending on different sintering condition. Current direction, heating rate, soaking time, pulse patterns all influenced the diffusion of Al atoms which affected the joining quality of Zr and Ti3AlC2.