Effect of mechanical activation on TiC synthesis reaction in Al-Ti-C powder mixture

After milling in a high energy ball miller for various times, the synthesis reaction process of the Al Ti C powder mixture were investigated by difference thermal analysis (DTA) and X ray diffractometry (XRD). According to the patterns of reaction peaks on the DTA curves, the activation energy of each reaction was calculated. The experimental results of DTA show that the synthesis reaction of Al Ti C powder mixture can be enhanced after high energy milling. The longer the milling time, the lower the reaction temperature. The synthesis reaction of TiC is transformed from Ti+C→TiC to Al 3Ti+C→TiC+3Al with long period milling. Meanwhile, the activation energy of the reaction reduces with increasing milling time. The effect of milling time on reduced activation energy for low temperature region is more significant than that for high temperature region.