Synthesis and characterization of (Zr1/3Nb1/3Ti1/3)C metal carbide solid‐solution ceramic.

(Zr1/3Nb1/3Ti1/3)C metal carbide solid‐solution ceramic has been successfully fabricated by hot pressing sintering at 2473 K using ZrC, NbC, and TiC powders as raw materials. The results show that the as‐prepared solid‐solution ceramic possesses a single rock‐salt crystal structure of metal carbides and simultaneously exhibits high compositional uniformity from nanoscale to microscale. By taking advantage of these unique features, it shows relatively high hardness of 38.8 ± 4.4 Gpa and elastic modulus of 481.8 ± 31.0 Gpa and relatively low thermal conductivity of 17.1 ± 0.3 W/(m·K) and thermal diffusivity of 6.1 ± 0.1 mm2/s, which may attribute primarily to the presence of solid solution effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]