Gas-Solid Displacement Reactions in the Ti-W-C System
Abstract
Displacement reactions between binary and ternary ceramics in the Ti-W-C system and reactive gaseous atmospheres are investigated in this work. Specifically, WC and 50:50 wt% TiC:WC solid solution powders were exposed to flowing hydrogen gas, or equilibrated against an excess of titanium in the presence of iodine, to form metallic tungsten and TiC solid products. In the case of pure WC reacting with hydrogen, transformation to metallic tungsten occurred as a result of removal of chemically bound carbon as gaseous hydrocarbons. In the case of pure WC reacting with titanium iodide vapors, transformation was accompanied by the appearance of TiC as a solid product formed at the gas‐solid interface. In the case of 50:50 wt% TiC:WC solid solution powders, hydrogen was generally found to be an ineffective displacing reagent, whereas reaction with titanium iodide vapors was observed to proceed virtually to completion, resulting in a two phase product mixture comprising metallic tungsten and TiC. For the latter case, a variety of microstructures could be observed within a given batch, including tungsten platelets and/or lamellae in a TiC matrix, or coarse tungsten grains interspersed with TiC grains. These morphological variations are speculated to arise from compositional variation in the starting material and the occurrence of local rapid coarsening along fast diffusion pathways within reacting agglomerates and polycrystalline primary particles. The observed reaction products and relative efficacy of gaseous reagents to promote displacement reactions in the Ti-W-C system are rationalized on the basis of thermodynamic predictions. The reaction between 50:50 wt% TiC:WC solid solution powders and titanium iodide vapors constitutes the first known report of an internal displacement reaction proceeding via gaseous intermediates in a nonoxide ceramic system.
Recommended Citation
R. D. Dempsey and D. W. Lipke, "Gas-Solid Displacement Reactions in the Ti-W-C System," Journal of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 103, no. 4, pp. 2376 - 2388, John Wiley & Sons, Apr 2020.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1111/jace.16954
Department(s)
Materials Science and Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Compositional variation; Displacement reactions; Gas-solid interface; Gaseous hydrocarbon; Internal displacement reactions; Morphological variation; Nonoxide ceramics; Thermodynamic predictions
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
0002-7820; 1551-2916
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2020 American Ceramic Society, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Apr 2020
Comments
This material is based upon work supported by, or in part by, the U. S. Army Research Laboratory and the U. S. Army Research Office under contract/grant number W911NF‐14‐1‐0560.