Fabrication of Carbon Encapsulated ZrC Nanoparticles by Electrical Explosion of Zr Wire in Ethanol

The method of electrical explosion of metal wire in organic liquid was adopted to prepare carbon encapsulated nanoparticles. In the medium of absolute ethyl alcohol, under the high-voltage pulse current (HVPC), the high purity zirconium wire became fusion, gasification, expansion and explosion, accompanied with separating of carbon out of ethanol and reaction of carbon and zirconium, and carbon encapsulated ZrC nanoparticles formed. The energy, voltage and current in the experiments were measured to analyze the influence of them on the products. The products were analyzed by X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results show that the carbon encapsulated ZrC nanoparticles are fabricated successfully. The diameter range is between 10 similar to 150 nm. For the voltage of 4, 8 and 12 kV, the average size of the products is 24.9, 41.4 and 43.9 nm, respectively. Finally, the procedure and mechanism of fabrication of the carbon encapsulated ZrC nanoparticles were discussed preliminarily.