Morphological and structural evolutions of nonequilibrium titanium-nitride alloy powders produced by reactive ball milling

Nonequilibrium titanium-nitride alloy powders have been fabricated by a high energetic ball mill under nitrogen gas flow at room temperature and characterized by means of x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry. Initial hcp titanium is completely transformed to nonequilibrium-fcc Ti–N after 720 ks of the milling time. The fcc Ti–N phase is stable at relatively low temperature and transforms at 855 K to Ti₂N and δ phases. At the final stage of milling, the particle- and grain-sizes of alloy powders are 1 mm and 5 nm, respectively, and the lattice parameter is 0.419 nm.