Synthesis of Ni3Al intermetallic powder in eutectic molten salts

The powders of Ni3Al intermetallic compounds were simply and economically synthesized by the chemical reaction in the various molten salts systems. In the relatively low temperature ranges, we studied to synthesize Ni3Al intermetallic powders from Al and NiCl2 in five kinds of eutectic molten salts by varying the reaction time and mole ratio of reactants. Ni3Al intermetallic powders could be synthesized in AlCl3–NaCl (63:37 in mol%), AlCl3–NaCl–KCl (66:20:14 mol%), NaCl–KCl (50:50 mol%) and MgCl2–NaCl–KCl (50:30:20 mol%) systems. However, it was impossible to separate the Ni3Al powders from MgCl2–NaCl–KCl (50:30:20 mol%) system. The Ni3Al powders could not be synthesized in AlCl3–NaCl (50:50 mol%) molten salt. The obtained powders were uniformly sub-micrometer sized. The reaction temperature at 500 °C, the reaction time for 3 h and the mole ratio of NiCl2/Al=1.3 were the optimum conditions for synthesis of Ni3Al intermetallic powders in AlCl3–NaCl (63:37 mol%) molten salt.