Thermodynamic analysis of TiO2-Al-C-ZrO2 combustion synthesis system

Combustion Synthesis of Al2O3-TiC-ZrO2 nanocomposites by reaction of TiO2-Al-C-ZrO2 system is a new method with advantages of simplicity and efficiency. Thermodynamic analysis of TiO2-Al-C-ZrO2 system is very important for obtaining ideal phases. In the present work, the possible combustion products are discussed by a new approach of overlapped Phase Stability Diagram (PSD) of Al-O-N, Ti-O-N, Zr-O-N and C-O-N systems. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the desired combustion product is a mixture of Al2O3, TiC and ZrO2. The microstructure and the phase compositions of the combustion products are studied by using X-ray Diffraction Analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), respectively.