Chemical precipitation of nickel nanoparticles on Ti(C,N) suspensions focused on cermet processing

Ti(C,N)-based cermets are currently used in high speed cutting tools industry due to its high thermal stability. In previous works, Fe was proposed as metal matrix, however the use of iron as continuous matrix strongly affects the processing due to the low wetting capability of molten Fe with the reinforcement phase, Ti(C,N). To solve this problem, the use of alloys such as FeNi has been proposed, where Ni improves the wettability between the ceramic and the metal phases. This work proposes a bottom-up approach to build the cermet microstructure through the synthesis of metal nanoparticles (NPs) on the surface of Ti(C,N) micrometric particles, creating Ti(C,N)-Ni core-shell structures. For that purpose, the in-situ synthesis of Ni NPs through the chemical reduction of a Ni precursor onto the surface of micrometric Ti(C,N) particles, previously stabilized in an aqueous suspension, was proposed. Core-shell structures were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Raman Spectroscopy.