State of oxygen in fine titanium nitride powders

Conclusions Oxygen in fine titanium nitride powders produced by the plasma-chemical method can exist in three forms — replacing the nitrogen in the nitride, forming oxide films, and adsorbed on the surface. In the course of the plasma-chemical synthesis of titanium nitride 1–5 wt. % of oxygen from the starting reactants becomes statistically distributed throughout the particles, forming homogeneous titanium oxynitrides. Contact with humid air results in the formation, on the surfaces of small particles, of thin ( 1-nm) oxide films characterized by activation-type conduction and in adsorption of some oxygen. The composition of the main volume of each particle remains unchanged.Translated from Poroshkovaya Metallurgiya, No. 9 (225), pp. 6–9, September, 1981.