Synthesis and characterization of (Zr1/3Nb1/3Ti1/3)C metal carbide solid-solution ceramic

(Zr_1/3Nb_1/3Ti_1/3)C metal carbide solid-solution ceramic has been successfully fabricated by hot pressing sintering at 2473 K using ZrC, NbC, and TiC powders as raw materials. The results show that the as-prepared solid-solution ceramic possesses a single rock-salt crystal structure of metal carbides and simultaneously exhibits high compositional uniformity from nanoscale to microscale. By taking advantage of these unique features, it shows relatively high hardness of 38.8 ± 4.4 Gpa and elastic modulus of 481.8 ± 31.0 Gpa and relatively low thermal conductivity of 17.1 ± 0.3 W/(m·K) and thermal diffusivity of 6.1 ± 0.1 mm²/s, which may attribute primarily to the presence of solid solution effects.