Abstract
In this work, the rapid thermal shock behavior of Ti(2)AlC ceramics was studied using induction heating. The present evaluation method possesses the merits of very rapid heating within tens of seconds and fast quenching in water of less than 0.1 s, removing the shortcomings of traditional thermal shock. For comparison, the samples were also quenched in the air to investigate the thermal shock mechanisms. The results showed that the abnormal shock occurred in the samples when quenching in water, ascribed to the formed oxide layer on the surface of Ti(2)AlC ceramic inhibited the water penetration into the substrate. The quenched Ti(2)AlC samples still had a high residual flexural strength above 167 MPa up to 1150 °C, exhibiting promising applications in the high-temperature fields.