Fabrication and properties of silver-based composites reinforced with carbon-coated Ti₃AlC₂

Ti₃AlC₂-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 Ti₃AlC₂ significantly degrade the electrical and thermal properties of these composites. To diminish these interfacial reactions, we fabricated carbon-coated Ti₃AlC₂ particles (C@Ti₃AlC₂) as reinforcement and prepared Ag–10wt%C@Ti₃AlC₂ composites with carbon-layer thicknesses ranging from 50–200 nm. Compared with the uncoated Ag–Ti₃AlC₂ composite, Ag–C@Ti₃AlC₂ was found to have a better distribution of Ti₃AlC₂ particles. With increases in the carbon-layer thickness, the Vickers hardness value and relative density of Ag–C@Ti₃AlC₂ gradually decreases. With a carbon-layer thickness of 150 nm, we obtained the lowest resistivity of Ag–C@Ti₃AlC₂ of 29.4 135.5×10⁻⁹ Ω·m, which is half that of Ag–Ti₃AlC₂ (66.7 × 10⁻⁹ Ω·m). The thermal conductivity of Ag–C@Ti₃AlC₂ reached a maximum value of 135.5 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹ with a 200-nm carbon coating (~1.8 times that of Ag–Ti₃AlC₂). These results indicate that the carbon-coating method is a feasible strategy for improving the performance of Ag–C@Ti₃AlC₂ composites.