Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2009 number 6

X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer and Auger electron spectroscopy, electron and atomic force microscopy were applied to study the sequence of structural-phase transformations during mechanical alloying (MA) and annealing of system iron - titanium - carbon obtained using the mixtures of different compositions: powders of pure elements Fe (70 at. %), Ti (15 at. %), graphite (15 at. %); powders Fe (70 at. %) and TiC (30 at. %); powders Fe (70 at. %), Ti (15 at. %) and toluene. It was demonstrated that in all the cases MA results in the formation of nanocomposite powders with complicated phase composition: a solid solution based on Fe, X-ray amorphous phase based on carbides TiC and Fe₃C, carbide TiC. Annealing leads to the crystallization of the amorphous phase, decomposition of the solid solution and formation of nanocomposite Fe + TiC + Fe₃C. The dispersity, number of composition of carbide phases depend on MA conditions. In the case of the mixture of Fe, Ti and toluene, by varying MA time one may obtain the two-phase system Fe + TiC with the uniform distribution of nanocrystalline phases over the sample.