Mechanochemical synthesis of Ti(C,N) nanopowder from titanium and melamine

Ti and melamine were used as raw materials to prepare Ti(C,N) powder by mechanochemical processing. Raman spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, XPS, elemental analyzer and ICP-MS were used to characterize the synthesized powder. The results showed that the chemical composition of titanium carbonitride after 100h of milling was Ti(C0.37N0.63)0.94 and the particle size was 10–20nm. Melamine was not only a reactant in the reaction, but also had a process control agent effect, which facilitated the generation of ultrafine Ti particles during the activated period. Melamine decomposed by means of ball milling and formed carbon and nitrogen-based active radicals which reacted with refined Ti particles and formed nano-scale Ti(C,N) powder.