A simple method preparing isolated encapsulated particles on a large scale Original Research Article

A simple method is found to prepare the encapsulated particles on a large scale. The ZrO2 powder and natural graphite are mixed in a certain proportion, then they are milled until the graphite becomes turbostratic structure. Subsequently, the milled sample is heat-treated at 2100°C. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the ZrC particles are encapsulated with graphite layers. Both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and TEM show that the size of encapsulated particles is less than 1 μm. Although the encapsulated particles aggregate with each other, they can be separated easily by sonication or other agitation. The reason that particles can be separated is that the milled graphite in turbostratic structure cannot be rehabilitated in high temperature.