Plasmadynamic synthesis of Ti-B nanopowders

Ti-B nanopowders were produced by plasmadynamic synthesis. This method was implemented by the synthesis in an electrodischarge plasma jet generated by a high-current pulsed coaxial magnetoplasma accelerator. Two experiments were carried out using copper and titanium conductors for initiating the plasma jet. The synthesized products were analyzed by several modern techniques including X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy. The variety of crystalline phases in the products of both Ti-B and Ti-O systems were identified. The most successful results were obtained using titanium conductors. In this case, the product mainly contains titanium boride and titanium diboride. Synthesized powder consists of hexagonal and cubic particles, which were identified as titanium boride and titanium diboride particles, respectively. The method using titanium conductors for initiating the plasma jet is more efficient and simple way for obtaining TiB/TiB₂ nanopowders. (paper)