Effect of HCl concentration on TiB2 separation from a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) product

This paper presents a synthesis of TiB{sub 2} powder via self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) method using a mixture of TiO{sub 2}, B{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Mg followed by acid leaching. In the acid leaching step, the MgO content in the SHS product was leached in different HCl concentrations. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that when 9.3 M HCl was used, the leached SHS product was found similar to that of the commercial TiB{sub 2} powder. However, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET surface area analysis revealed that the leached product was agglomerated and exhibited very high surface area.