Abstract: A novel temperature fluctuation synthesis/simultaneous densification process was developed for the preparation of Ti3SiC2 bulk ceramics. In this process, Si is used as an in-situ liquid forming phase and it is favorable for both the solid-liquid synthesis and the densification of Ti3SiC2 ceramics. The present work demonstrated that the temperature fluctuation synthesis/simultaneous densification process is one of the most effective and simple methods for the preparation of Ti3SiC2 bulk materials providing relatively low synthesis temperature, short reaction time, and simultaneous synthesis and densification. This work also showed the capability to control the microstructure, e.g., the preferred orientation, of the bulk Ti3SiC2 materials simply by applying the hot pressing pressure at different stages of the temperature fluctuation process. And textured Ti3SiC2 bulk materials with {002} faces of laminated Ti3SiC2 grains normal to the hot pressing axis were prepared.

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