Vacuum Carbothermal Synthesis of TiB2

Abstract

In this study, the formation conditions of TiB₂, whose main production method is carbothermal reduction, at lower temperatures with additional processes (vacuum, mechanical activation and functional addition effect) were investigated. In this study, firstly the 100% stoichiometric mixture was reduced at 1200°C under vacuum for varying experimental durations. Afterwards, the effect of mechanical activation amount on TiB₂ formation was determined by keeping the 4-h reduction time, which was determined as optimum in the first set of experiments. At the last stage of the experiments, the addition of 2.5 and 5% NaCl effect on the mixtures in the first set of experiments was determined. The samples obtained after the experiment were characterized by XRD and SEM techniques, and it was observed that the undesired phases were completely removed as a result of the reduction performed after 16 h of ball mile operation, and this experiment was determined as the optimum experimental condition.