Analysis of alumina-based titanium carbide composites by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy

In this work, alumina (Al2O3) containing dif- ferent volume % of titanium carbide (TiC) ranging from 0 to 30 were consolidated by the novel spark plasma sintering. The spectroscopic analysis of the plasma generated by irra- diation of laser Nd:YAG (k = 1,064 nm) on different con- centrations of the composites in air atmospheric pressure was performed. The qualitative examination of the composites confirms the presence of aluminum, titanium, and carbon as major elements, while magnesium and sodium have been found as minor trace elements. Plasma parameters were estimated by assuming the LTE conditions for optically thin plasma. The electron density and temperature were evalu- ated by using the Stark broadening and intensity of selected aluminum emission lines, respectively. The addition of TiC to Al2O3 shows a linear behavior with plasma temperature corroborated by the calibration curve of Ti in the composites. The results suggest that calibration curve between plasma temperature and the composites can be used to estimate different concentrations of TiC in Al2O3 without analyzing the whole elements in the composites and thus opens up new applications of LIBS in ceramic industry.