Carbothermal synthesis of transition metal carbide and carbonitride whiskers via a Vapour-Liquid-Solid (VLS) growth mechanism

Sammanfattning: A route for the synthesis of TiC, TiCyN1-y, TaxTi1-xC and TaxTi1-xCyN1-y whiskers via a carbothermal Vapour-Liquid-Solid (VLS) growth mechanism, yielding 70-90 vol.% whiskers, has been established. The whiskers were uniform in diameter (0.3-0.6mm), and had a length of about 10-30mm. The starting materials consisted of TiO2 and/or Ta2O5, C, a catalyst metal (Ni or Fe) and NaCl. Carbon was added to reduce the oxides, and NaCl to provide chlorine in the formation of TiClx(g) and TaOxCly(g) species. The overall chemical reaction is a straightforward carbothermal reduction process. The optimum synthesis temperature was found to be 1250°C for TiCyN1-y, TaxTi1-xC and TaxTi1-xCyN1-y whisker, and 1400°C for TiC. The growth direction of the whiskers was found to be <100> for TaC and TaxTi1-xC and either <100> or <111> for TiC. Nitridation of TiC whiskers yielded TiCyN1-y whiskers with morphology and chemical composition different from those obtained by the carbothermal VLS growth mechanism. From oxidation studies it was found that TiC had the lowest oxidation resistance (onset temperature Ton=390°C) and that TaC had the highest (Ton=550°C). The oxidation onset temperature was found to increase with increasing x-value for both TaxTi1-xC and TaxTi1-xCyN1-y whiskers. Microscopy studies (SEM and TEM) showed that whiskers with a native diameter exceeding 0.3 mm split into two halves along their length when oxidised. It was found that the TiO2 particle size of oxidised TaxTi1-xC whiskers are markedly smaller than that obtained from oxidation of TiC whiskers, whereas the Ta2O5 particle size was the same as that observed for oxidised TaC whiskers.