Synthesis of titanium nitride and carbonitride nanopowders in confined-jet flow plasma reactor

The synthesis of titanium nitride and carbonitride nanopowders from titanium tetrachloride vapor in a stream of hydrogen–nitrogen plasma, generated by an arc torch, in confined-jet flow reactor has been experimentally studied. Single-phase nanopowders with a NaCl-type cubic crystal lattice as assemblies of preferably cube-shaped nanoparticles of a 20–150 nm size and aggregates based on them have been obtained in the experiments. By varying the synthesis parameters, it has been possible to prepare titanium nitride nanopowders with a specific surface area in the range of 11–39 m2/g containing 18.8–22.5 wt % nitrogen, which corresponds to the empirical formula TiN0.79–TiN0.99. The titanium carbonitride nanopowders had a specific surface area of 13–23 m2/g and carbon and nitrogen contents of 7.5–13.6 and 13.5–5.1 wt %, respectively.