The HIPing of Ti–Al–1.9TiC and Ti–Al–0.2Sn–1.8TiC reactant mixtures yields Ti3AlC2 and Ti3Al0.8Sn0.2C2 solid solutions, respectively. Rietveld refinement gives a = 3.0786 ± 0.0001 Å and c = 18.589 ± 0.001 Å lattice parameters for Ti3AlC2 and a = 3.0837 ± 0.0001 Å and c = 18.621 ± 0.002 Å for Ti3Al0.8Sn0.2C2. Furthermore, about 2–3 vol% of TixAly intermetallics is detected in Ti3Al0.8Sn0.2C2 solid solution. The intrinsic hardness, measured by nanoindention tests, is 11.4 ± 0.7 GPa for Ti3AlC2 and 10.2 ± 0.6 GPa for Ti3Al0.8Sn0.2C2. Furthermore, hardness values, measured by microindentation tests, are compared with the ones measured by nanoindentation. It is shown that microindentation and nanoindentation performed with large loads lead to underestimated hardness values as several grains are involved in the deformation process. Finally, Young's modulus of Ti3AlC2 and Ti3Al0.8Sn0.2C2 is 260 ± 10 and 250 ± 10 GPa, respectively.

Ti3Sn(1−x)AlxC2 MAX phase solid solutions are successfully synthesized from different reactant mixtures. Rietveld refinement allows to carefully characterize their structures and the ocathedra and trigonal prims distortion parameters as a function of the Al content. Mechanical properties of solid solutions are studied from nanoindentation experiments and dynamic resonant method. It is shown that solid solution hardening is not operative in this system. Elastic modulus is found to increase from Ti3SnC2 to Ti3AlC2, and such a result is discussed in terms of Ti–A bond stiffness.