Nitrogenation of hafnium carbide powders in AC and DC plasma by Electrical Discharge Assisted Mechanical Milling

摘要

Metal carbonitride powders and coatings are well known as superhard materials which are widely applied in many engineering products. Of this group of materials hafnium carbonitride properties are one of the least known due to difficulties with preparation. In this study, the electric discharge assisted mechanical milling (EDAMM) method involving a nitrogen plasma together with mechanical milling was used to synthetise hafnium carbonitride powders within minutes. It was found that difficulties in conventional manufacturing methods, resulting in the formation of only thin layers instead of bulk materials can be overcome by applying the new technique, and HfCxNy powder could be successfully engineered with controlled amount of nitrogen uptake.