Revisiting the defects structure of MAX phase: the case of Ti4AlN3

Anne Joulain (1) , Ludovic Thilly (1) , Jacques Rabier (1)

1 PhyMat - Laboratoire de Physique des Matériaux

Microstructural study of as-grown Ti4AlN3 MAX phase has been performed by transmission electron microscopy. Dislocation walls, dislocation nucleation sites and stacking faults are described. In particular, diffraction contrast analysis combined with high resolution images give new insight into the nature of the stacking faults: contrarily to what is usually postulated, it is shown that the stacking faults posses a shear component in the basal plane. The stacking faults are suggested to be created by the insertion of MX layers in the lattice via diffusion mechanisms. Their possible role on the deformation mechanism of MAX phases is discussed.

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Anne Joulain, Ludovic Thilly, Jacques Rabier. Revisiting the defects structure of MAX phase: the case of Ti4AlN3. Philosophical Magazine, 2008, 88 (09), pp.1307-1320. ⟨10.1080/14786430802126615⟩. ⟨hal-00513895⟩