Abstract:
Ti
3AlC
2-reinforced Ag-based composites, which are used as sliding current collectors, electrical contacts, and electrode materials, exhibit remarkable performances. However, the interfacial reactions between Ag and Ti
3AlC
2 significantly degrade the electrical and thermal properties of these composites. To diminish these interfacial reactions, we fabricated carbon-coated Ti
3AlC
2 particles (C@Ti
3AlC
2) as reinforcement and prepared Ag–10wt%C@Ti
3AlC
2 composites with carbon-layer thicknesses ranging from 50–200 nm. Compared with the uncoated Ag–Ti
3AlC
2 composite, Ag–C@Ti
3AlC
2 was found to have a better distribution of Ti
3AlC
2 particles. With increases in the carbon-layer thickness, the Vickers hardness value and relative density of Ag–C@Ti
3AlC
2 gradually decreases. With a carbon-layer thickness of 150 nm, we obtained the lowest resistivity of Ag–C@Ti
3AlC
2 of 29.4 135.5×10
−9 Ω·m, which is half that of Ag–Ti
3AlC
2 (66.7 × 10
−9 Ω·m). The thermal conductivity of Ag–C@Ti
3AlC
2 reached a maximum value of 135.5 W·m
−1·K
−1 with a 200-nm carbon coating (~1.8 times that of Ag–Ti
3AlC
2). These results indicate that the carbon-coating method is a feasible strategy for improving the performance of Ag–C@Ti
3AlC
2 composites.