THE EFFECT OF MILLING CONDITIONS ON THE MECHANICAL ALLOYING AND COMBUSTION SYNTHESIS OF TIO2-AI-C POWDER MIXTURE

A mixture of Tio2+Al+C powders was mechanically activated using a planetary ball mill under different milling conditions wherein the milled powders were further subjected to combustion synthesis to produce TiC+Al2O3 composite. The mechanically alloyed powders were characterized by X-Ray diffraction analysis and TEM investigations. XRD analysis of milled powder mixture showed no significant reaction between TiO2, Al and C while a significant amorphization of powder mixtures was observed. TEM analysis indicated the formation of a composite structure of powder particles after milling. The subsequent thermal treatment of the milled powder mix showed that the milling of initial powder mixture under dry environment using mixed large and small balls had a great effect on reaction efficiency and yielded to the highest TiC + Al2O3 ratio in the synthesized products.