Nanocrystalline Processing and Interface Engineering of Sisub3Nsub4-BasedNanocomposites

摘要

With careful powder handling procedures and processing, the nanocrystalline TINproduced in our novel reactor undergoes tremendous sintering and densification to produce dense (99%) TIN materials at 1400 deg C in a simple, pressureless sintering process This report outlines our continued work on the synthesis, sintering and processing of nanocrystalline TiN. Improvements to the filter collection unit in our reactor continue to be made. An SEM/XRD grain size study of the microstructure which develops in the unexposed, sintered TiN materials has shown that our final densified TiN is nanostructured (grain size 140 nm) and that up to 1200 deg C, the grain size remains under 35 nm. An oxidation study of these nanocrystalline nitride powders demonstrates further the importance of careful powder handling procedures to prevent easy oxidation of these materials in air.