Journal article
Impacts of Temperature and Time on Direct Nitridation of Aluminium Powders for Preparation of AlN Reinforcement
Materials, Vol.16(4), pp.1-13
2023
PMCID: PMC9959260
PMID: 36837213
Abstract
Aluminium nitride (AlN) is an important technical ceramic with outstanding strength and thermal conductivity that has important applications for advanced heat sink materials and as a reinforcement for metal based composites. In this study, we report a novel, straightforward and low cost method to prepare AlN powder using a vacuum tube furnace for the direct nitridation of loose aluminium powder at low temperatures (down to 500 ∘C) under flowing high purity nitrogen. Small amounts of magnesium powder (1 wt.%), combined with aluminium, promote nitridation. Here, we characterise the effects of time (up to 12 h) and temperature (490 to 560 ∘C) on nitridation with the aim to establish an effective regimen for the controlled synthesis of an aluminium nitride reinforcement powder for the production of metal matrix composites. The extent of nitridation and the morphology of the reaction products were assessed using scanning electron microscopy and X ray diffraction analyses. AlN was detected for all nitriding temperatures ≥ 500 ∘C, with the highest yields of 80% to 85% obtained at 530 ∘C for times ≥ 1 h. At this temperature, nitridation proceeded rapidly, and there was extensive agglomeration of the reaction products making it difficult to reprocess into powder. At lower temperatures around 510 ∘C, a relatively high proportion of AlN was attained (>73% after 6 h) while retaining excellent friability so that it could be manually reprocessed to powder. The synthesised reinforcement consisted of micro or nano crystalline AlN comingled with metallic aluminium. The ratio of AlN and metallic aluminium can be readily controlled by varying the nitriding temperature. This provides a flexible and accessible method for the production of AlN reinforcement powders suited to the production of metal matrix composites.
Details
- Title
- Impacts of Temperature and Time on Direct Nitridation of Aluminium Powders for Preparation of AlN Reinforcement
- Authors
- Samuel Rogers (Author) - The University of QueenslandMatthew Dargusch (Author) - The University of QueenslandDamon Kent (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- Materials, Vol.16(4), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.3390/ma16041583
- ISSN
- 1996-1944
- PMID
- 36837213; PMC9959260
- Copyright note
- © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).
- Grant note
- Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship
- Organisation Unit
- University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99710097402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Chemistry, Physical
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
- Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering
- Physics, Applied
- Physics, Condensed Matter
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