Design and production of the Zr3Ti2Si3 intermetallic compound

Abstract

The new ternary intermetallic compound Zr3Ti2Si3, with a (Mn5Si3)16H crystal structure, was designed based on the information of the crystal structure of the related binary compounds Zr5Si3 and Ti5Si3 in order to be used in ultra-high temperature structural applications. By x-ray diffraction analysis, we demonstrate the possibility of substituting an entire layer of zirconium atoms with a layer of titanium atoms in the (Zr5Si3)16H. An analysis of atomic neighbor distances in each compound was done. It was found that the Zr–Si relative interatomic distance diminishes while the Ti–Si distance increases. This indicates that Zr–Si bond strength is maintained as in the binary Zr5Si3. The resulting ternary intermetallic compound has a 16H crystal structure and has a lower density than the original compound of zirconium silicide. This new compound, which is stronger than Ti5Si3 and lighter than Zr5Si3, is considered an excellent candidate of the next generation of intermetallic compounds for ultra-high temperature structural applications.