Stability of titanium-aluminium nitride (Ti₂AlN) at high pressure and high temperatures

Abstract

The stability of Ti₂AlN at high pressure of 5 GPa and different temperatures of 700–1 600 °C was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). Ti₂AlN was found to be stable at temperatures as high as 1 400 °C under 5 GPa for 20 min, and was proved that it held better structure stability than Ti₂AlC under 5 GPa through comparative experiments of Ti₂AlN and Ti₂AlC (representative compounds of M ₂ AX phases (211 phase)). The reaction process at high pressure had some difference from that at ambient pressure/vacuum, and Ti₂AlN directly decomposed to TiN and TiAl at 5 GPa and 1 500 °C for 20 min. Moreover, the mechanism of phase segregation was discussed. In addition, the behavior of Ti₂AlN contacting with Zr at high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) was also studied.

Keywords

Ti₂AlN / high pressure and high temperature / stability / X-ray diffraction

References

[1] Nowotny H. New Compounds with Eulytine Structure: Crystal Chemistry and Luminescence[J]. Prog. Solid. State. Chem., 1970, 2: 27-30.

[2] Jeitschko W., Nowotny H. Die Kristallstructur von Ti₃SiC₂-Ein Neuer Komplxcarbid-Typ[J]. Monatsh. fur Chem., 1967, 98: 329-37.

[3] Wolfsgruber H., Nowotny H., Benesovsky F. Die Kristallstuktur von Ti₃GeC₂[J]. Monatsh. fur Chem., 1967, 98: 2 401-2 405.

[4] Pietzka M. A., Schuster C. Summary of Constitutional Data on the Aluminum-Carbon-Titanium System[J]. J. Phase Equilib., 1994, 15: 392-400.

[5] Dubois S., Cabioc’h T., Chartier P., . A New Ternary Nanolaminate Carbide: Ti₃SnC₂[J]. J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 2007, 90: 2 642-2 644.

[6] Etzkorn J., Ade M., Hillebrecht H. Ta₃AlC₂ and Ta₄AlC₃ — Single-Crystal Investigations of Two New Ternary Carbides of Tantalum Synthesized by the Molten Metal Technique[J]. Inorg. Chem., 2007, 46: 1 410-1 418.

[7] Zhou Y. C., Meng F. L., Zhang J. New MAX-Phase Compounds in the V-Cr-Al-C System[J]. J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 2008, 91: 1 357-1 360.

[8] Rawn C. J., Barsoum M. W., El-Raghy T., . Structure of Ti₄AlN₃-A Layered M _n+1 AX _n Nitrid[J]. Mater. Res. Bull., 2000, 35: 1 785-1 796.

[9] Procipio A. T., Barsoum M. W., El-Raghy T., . Characterization of Ti₄AlN₃[J]. Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 2000, 31: 333-337.

[10] Manoun B., Saxena S. K., El-Raghy T., . High-Pressure X-Ray Diffraction Study of Ta₄AlC₃[J]. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2006, 88: 201 902/1-201 902/3.

[11] Lin Z., Zhuo M., Zhou Y., . Structural Characterization of a New Layered-Ternary Ta₄AlC₃ Ceramic[J]. J. Mater. Res., 2006, 21: 2 587-2 592.

[12] Hu C., Lin Z., He L., . Physical and Mechanical Properties of Bulk Ta₄AlC₃ Ceramic Prepared by an In-Situ Reaction Synthesis/Hot-Pressing Method[J]. J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 2007, 90(8): 2 542-2 548.

[13] Eklund P., Palmquist J.-P., Höwing J., . Ta₄AlC₃: Phase Determination, Polymorphism and Deformation[J]. Acta Mater., 2007, 55: 4 723-4 729.

[14] Palmquist J.-P., Li S., Persson P. O. Å., . M _n+1 AX _n Phases in the Ti-Si-C System Studied by Thin-Film Synthesis and Ab Initio Calculations[J]. Phys. Rev. B, 2004, 70: 165 401/1-165 401/13.

[15] Högberg H., Hultman L., Emmerlich J., . Growth and Characterization of MAX-Phase Thin Films[J]. Surf. Coat. Technol., 2005, 193: 6-10.

[16] Eklund P., Murugaiah A., Emmerlich J., . Homoepitaxial Growth of Ti-Si-C MAX-Phase Thin Films on Bulk Ti3SiC2 Substrates[J]. J. Cryst. Growth, 2007, 304: 264-269.

[17] Högberg H., Eklund P., Emmerlich J., . Rapi d Communications: Epitaxial Ti₂GeC, Ti₃GeC₂, and Ti₄GeC₃ MAX-Phase Thin Films Grown by Magnetron Sputtering[J]. J. Mater. Res., 2005, 20: 779-782.

[18] Hu C., Li F., Zhang J., . Nb₄AlC₃: A New Compound Belonging to the MAX Phases[J]. Scripta Mater., 2007, 57: 893-896.

[19] Hu C. F., Zhang J., Wang J. M., . Crystal Structure of V₄AlC₃: A New Layered Ternary Carbide[J]. J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 2008, 91: 636-639.

[20] Jeitschko W., Nowotny H., Benesovsky F. Kohlenstoffhaltige ternäre Verbindungen (H-Phase)[J]. Monatsch. Chem., 1963, 94: 672-676.

[21] Schuster J. C., Bauer J. The Ternary System Titanium-Aluminium-Nitrogen[J]. J. Solid. State. Chem., 1984, 53: 260-265.

[22] Barsoum M. W., Ali M., El-Raghy T. Processing and Characterization of Ti₂AlC, Ti₂AlN, and Ti₂AlC_0.5N_0.5[J]. Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 2000, 31A: 1 857-1 865.

[23] Barsoum M. W. The M _n+1 AX _n Phases: A New Class of Solids; Thermodynamically Stable Nanolaminates[J]. Prog. Solid. State. Chem., 2000, 28: 201-281.

[24] Jordan J. L., Sekine T., Kobayashi T., . High Pressure Behavior of Titanium-Silicon Carbide (Ti₃SiC₂)[J]. J. Appl. Phys., 2003, 93: 9 639-9 643.

[25] Manoun B., Liermann H. P., Gulve R., . Compression of Ti₃Si_0.5Ge_0.5C₂ to 53 GPa[J]. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2004, 84: 2 799-2 801.

[26] Manoun B., Saxena S. K., Liermann H. P., . Compression of Zr₂InC to 52 GPa[J]. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2004, 85: 1 514-1 516.

[27] Manoun B., Saxena S. K., Barsoum M. W. High Pressure Study of Ti₄AlN₃ to 55 GPa[J]. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2005, 86: 101 906/1-101 906/3.

[28] Kumar R. S., Rekhi S., Cornelius A. L., . Compressibility of Nb₂AsC to 41 GPa[J]. Appl. Phys. Lett., 2005, 86: 111 904/1-111 904/3.

[29] Manoun B., Gulve R. P., Saxena S. K., . Compression Behavior of M₂AlC (M=Ti, V, Cr, Nb, and Ta) Phases to above 50 GPa[J]. Phys. Rev. B, 2006, 73: 024 110/1-024 110/7.

[30] Manoun B., Zhang F. X., Saxena S. K., . X-Ray High-Pressure Study of Ti₂AlN and Ti₂AlC[J]. J. Phys. Chem. Solids., 2006, 67: 2 091-2 094.

[31] Manoun B., Yang H., Saxena S. K., . Infrared Spectrum and Compressibility of Ti₃GeC₂ to 51 GPa[J]. J. Alloys. Comp., 2007, 433: 265-268.

[32] Radovic M., Barsoum M. W., Ganguly A., . On the Elastic Properties and Mechanical Damping of Ti₃SiC₂, Ti₃GeC₂, Ti₃Si_0.5Al_0.5C₂ and Ti₂AlC, in the 300–1 573 K Temperature Range[J]. Acta. Mater., 2006, 54: 2 757-2 767.

[33] Qin J., He D., Chen C., . Phase Segregation of Titanium-Aluminium Carbide (Ti₂AlC) at High Pressure and High Temperature [J]. J. Alloy. Compd., 2008, 462: L24-L 27.

[34] Qin J., He D., Lei L., . Differential Thermal Analysis Study of Phase Segregation of Ti₂AlC under High Pressure and High Temperature [J]. J. Alloy. Compd., 2009, 476: L8-L10.

[35] Fang L., He D., Chen C., . Effect of Precompression on Pressure-Transmitting Efficiency of Pyrophyllite Gaskets[J]. High Pressure Res., 2007, 27: 367-374.

[36] Mirwald P. W., Getting I. C., Kennedy G. C. Low Fristion Cell for Piston Cylinder High-Pressure Apparatus[J]. J. Geophys. Res., 1975, 80: 1 519-1 525.

[37] Wang X. H., Zhou Y. C. Stability and Selective Oxidation of Aluminum in Nano-Laminate Ti₃AlC₂ upon Heating in Ar[J]. Chem. Mater., 2003, 15: 3 716-3 720.

[38] Emmerlich J., Music D., Ekund P., . Thermal Stability of Ti3SiC2 Thin Films[J]. Acta. Mater., 2007, 55: 1 479-1 488.

[39] Barsoum M. W., El-Raghy T., Farber L., . The Topotaxial Transformation of Ti₃SiC₂ to Form a Partially Ordered Cubic TiC_0.67 Phase by the Diffusion of Si into Molten Cryolite[J]. J. Electro. Soc., 1999, 146: 3 919-3 923.

[40] Zhang J., Wang J. Y., Zhou Y. C. Structure Stability of Ti₃AlC₂ in Cu and Microstructure Evolution of Cu-Ti₃AlC₂ Composites[J]. Acta. Mater., 2007, 55: 4 381-4 390.

[41] Chen J. X., Zhou Y. C., Zhang H. B., . Thermal Stability of Ti₃AlC₂/Al₂O₃ Composites in High Vacuum[J]. Mater. Chem. Phys., 2007, 104(1): 109-122.

[42] Hug G., Jaouen M., Barsoum M. W. X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy, EELS, and Full-Potential Augmented Plane Wave Study of the Electronic Structure of Ti₂AlC, Ti₂AlN, Nb₂AlC, and (Ti_0.5Nb_0.5)₂AlC[J]. Phys. Revs. B, 2005, 71: 024 105/1-024 105/12.

[43] Zhou Y., Sun Z. Electronic and Bonding Properties of Layered Machinable Ti₂AlC and Ti₂AlN Ceramics[J]. Phys. Revs. B, 2000, 61: 12 570-12 573.