X-ray emission and photoelectron spectroscopy studies of interaction of nanocrystalline TiN and TiB₂ after highpressure sintering

Abstract

A few samples of nanocrystalline TiN–TiB₂ ceramics were synthesized by high-pressure (3.0 GPa) and high-temperature (t = 1300–1500°C) sintering a mixture of TiN and TiB₂ nanopowders (80 wt.% TiN and 20 wt.% TiB₂) and the microhardness of the samples was determined. Peculiarities of the chemical bonding of the TiN–TiB₂ ceramics possessing the highest microhardness among the samples under consideration, mainly 29.65 ± 0.90 GPa, were studied in the present work using the X-ray emission and photoelectron spectroscopy methods. The X-ray emission spectra reflecting the energy distribution of the valence electronic states of the constituents (the N Kα (N 2p-like states), B Kα (В 2p-like states), Ti Lα (valence Ti s,d-like states) and Ti Kβ₅ (Ti 4p-like states) bands) were measured for the mentioned ceramics and for the initial mixture of TiN and TiB₂ nanopowders. For the above substances the X-ray photoelectron core-level binding energies were evaluated as well. It has been established that, when synthesizing the nanocrystalline TiN–TiB₂ ceramics from the initial mixture of TiN and TiB₂ nanopowders, the half-widths of the X-ray emission Ti Lα and Ti Kβ₅ bands decrease by (0.5–0.6) ± 0.2 eV.