Mechanochemically assisted synthesis of titanium carbonitride from metal and organic precursor

Ultrafine TiC(0.29)N(0.38)powders with a particle size of approximately 170 nm were synthesized by mechanochemical synthesis combined with moderate-temperature annealing using Ti and ethylenediamine as raw materials. Ethylenediamine plays a versatile role in the fabrication of ultrafine TiC(x)N(y)powders. It can serve as not only carbon and nitrogen sources, but also a process control agent, that facilitates the generation of ultrafine particles. A dense TiC(0.3)N(0.39)ceramic with a high hardness of 16.7 GPa was obtained by spark plasma sintering at a considerably reduced temperature of 1100 degrees C. This simple, energy-efficient method is a novel approach to synthesizing valuable TiCxNy.