Titanium carbide (TiC) is an extremely hard refractory ceramic material that registers 9-9.5 on the Mohs scale. It has the appearance of fine black powder and a face-centered cubic crystal structure. It is used in preparing cements, abrasion-resistant surface coating on metal parts and heat shield coating.
A hard crystalline powder of the composition TiC is made by reacting titanium dioxide and carbon black at temperatures above 1800degC. It is compacted with cobalt or nickel for use in cutting tools and for heat-resistant parts.
The synthesis of titanium carbide can be performed by the horizontal carbon tube furnace, vertical carbon tube furnace, etc. The raw materials, high purity titanium dioxide and carbon black, are fully mixed in proportion, the dry powder mixture is pressure-formed, then reacted under the hydrogen atmosphere at 1900
It can also be prepared by the method of chemical vapour deposition (CVD), in which volatile compounds containing carbon and silicon are reacted at high temperatures in the presence of hydrogen, which forms wear-resistant layers. The process can also be used to produce large single crystals of SiC for advanced electronic applications.
Nanoparticles of titanium carbide have a narrow particle size distribution, large specific surface area and high rates of purity. They have a good conductivity and chemical inertness to steel and iron, and exhibit excellent thermal stability and corrosion resistance. It is also a very promising candidate for surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS).
