A combined experimental and modeling study revealing the anisotropic mechanical response of Ti2AlN MAX phase

Ti2AlN MAX phase with a hexagonal crystal structure exhibits great potential as structural material for operation under harsh environments due to its excellent mechanical performance. For a reliable application, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical behavior, and in particular of the anisotropic properties is needed. Thus, in this study, we combined nanoindentation and electron-backscatter diffraction experiments to correlate elastic modulus and hardness of Ti2AlN to the crystallographic orientation. We used two different modeling approaches to better understand, validate, and in the long run to predict the anisotropic mechanical behavior of MAX phase materials. While we observed consistent trends in both experiments and modeling, elastic modulus and hardness showed different dependencies on the crystal orientation.