In situ synthesis of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders by thermal plasma technology

A novel processing technology was developed to investigate in situ synthesis of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders by thermal plasma technology. Thermodynamic analysis was performed to predict possible starting materials and synthesizing conditions of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders. A mathematical model was developed to describe temperature profile and velocity distribution in the reactor. The model is applied to optimize feeding rate, input power, and other processing parameters of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders by thermal plasma technology, and to predict which materials can be used as starting materials. This paper emphasizes the investigation of the effect of feeding rate, input power, mole ratio, and other process parameters on synthesis of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders by thermal plasma technology. The experimental results showed that TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders can be synthesized in situ by thermal plasma technology, and the average size of TiC-Al (Ti) nanocomposite powders was less than 100 nm.