Effects of polyvinylpyrrolidone on carbothermal reduction and nitridation of titanium nitride powder

Abstract

Titanium nitride powders were synthesised via carbothermal reduction and nitridation of TiO₂ non-hydrolytic gels using polyvinylpyrrolidone as the carbon source. Compared with solid carbon black as carbon resource, polyvinylpyrrolidone was dissolved in a mixture of absolute alcohol, titanium tetrachloride and dimethylformamide and can fully contact with the titanium source in the liquid–liquid mixture, which will contribute to increase the reaction and conversion rates of titanium nitride. The optimum parameters for polyvinylpyrrolidone molecular weight and C/Ti molar ratio were 1 300 000 and 12:1, respectively. The average grain size of Titanium nitride powders was 100 nm.

Keywords:

• Polyvinylpyrrolidone
• Carbothermal reduction
• nitridation
• TiN
• Powder