PREPARATION OF TITANIUM DIBORIDE FROM TITANIUM ALKOXIDES AND BORON POWDER

The high chemical and thermal stability of TiB2, along with its low electrical resistivity and high thermal conductivity, has made it a very interesting engineering ceramic material.1An important element controlling the commercial success of TiB2as an engineered ceramic material is the availability of pure, submicron TiB2powders at low processing temperatures. The methods most often used for preparing TiB2powders include the direct reaction between Ti and B2 and the reduction of TiO2 and B2O3(or B4C) by carbon.3, 4These methods generally require high temperatures (around 2000 °C) and yield TiB2powders with low purity and large particle sizes (5-30 μm). Highpurity TiB2powders have been prepared by a gasphase reaction5or from organometallic precursors.6, 7. © 1992, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.