Morphological and structural studies of mechanically alloyed Ti44C56 powders

The mechanical alloying process has been employed successfully for preparing nanocrystalline titanium carbide (TiC) alloy powders. This process was performed in a high-energy ball mill under an argon atmosphere at room temperature. The mechanically reacted powders have been characterized as a function of the milling time by means of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. A single phase of NaCl-type Ti44C56 alloy powders is formed after very short milling time (20 ks). The end product of the milled powders are uniform in size (less than 0.5 μ in diameter) and homogeneous in shape (almost spherical). Moreover, the fabricated Ti44C56 alloy powders have extremely fine cell-like structure, being of about of 3 nm. The presence of free Ti and/or C (reactant materials) in the end product could not be detected. These results demonstrate that the mechanical alloying process can provide a powerful tool for the fabrication of TiC alloy powders at room temperature.