Synthesis of nano-sized titanium diboride in a melt of anhydrous sodium tetraborate

Article abstract of DOI:10.1134/S1070363212050027

X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and elemental analysis were used to study the interaction of titanium powder with finely powdered boron of particle size 10-20 μm in Na₂B₄O₇ ionic melt, in the temperature range 973-1088 K, at the 5-10 h contact duration. The TiB₂ formation was shown to occur at the temperatures 1018 K or above, that is, at the borax melting temperature. According to the scanning electron microscopy, theTiB ₂ powder consists of the 70-75 nm particles, and its coherent scattering region calculated from the XRD data amounts to 55 nm.