Synthesis of titanium carbide by thermo-chemical methods with TiH sub(2) and carbon black powders

A new synthesizing method for producing submicron TiC powders was studied by using TiH sub(2) and carbon black powders. It is well known that hydrogen absorption transforms titanium from metal (h.c.p.) to brittle hydride (f.c.c.) powders by ball-milling. This research focused on obtaining submicron-sized TiC powders from the ball-milled mixture of TiH sub(2) and carbon black by thermal treatment. The hydrogen, carbon, iron, and oxygen composition changes in the mixed powders were analyzed. Thereafter, a differential thermal analysis (DTA) test was performed to observe change of phase with ball-milling time. The TiC powders were obtained by heat treating the powders milled for 5h at various temperatures (600-1200 degree C). The phase microstructure was investigated via DTA, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mixture milled for 2h had an f.c.t. structure containing 66.73 at. %H transformed to f.c.c. by milling for 4h. After 5h of ball-milling, submicron-sized particles of 273 nm were obtained. At the isothermal heat-treating temperature of 500 degree C, the Ti single phase was formed completely, and the TiC phase of lattice parameter 0.310 nm was completely formed over the temperature of 1000 degree C.