Combustion front dynamics in the combustion synthesis of refractory metal carbides and di-borides using time-resolved X-ray diffraction.

A compact diffraction-reaction chamber, using a 2-inch photodiode array detector, has been employed to investigate the chemical dynamics at the combustion front of a selected series of refractory metal carbides and di-borides from their constituent element reactants as well as binary products from B4C as a reactant. These systems are denoted as (i) M + C --> MC; (ii) M + 2B --> MB2; and (iii) 3M + B4C --> 2MB2 + MC, where M = Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf or Ta. Time-resolved X-ray diffraction using intense synchrotron radiation at frame rates up to 10 frames s(-1) (or 100 ms frame(-1)) was employed. The combustion reactions were found to complete within 200-400 ms. In contrast to the Ta + C --> TaC combustion system studied earlier, in which a discernible intermediate sub-carbide phase was first formed, reacted further and disappeared to yield the final TaC product, no intermediate sub-carbide or sub-boride was detected in the current systems. Combustion for the Ti, Zr and Hf systems involved a liquid phase, in which the adiabatic temperatures Tad are well above the melting points of the respective reactant metals and have a typical combustion front velocity of 5-6 mm s(-1). The Nb and Ta systems have lower Tad, involving no liquid phase. These are truly solid combustion systems and have a lower combustion front velocity of 1-2 mm s(-1). The current study opens up a new avenue to chemical dynamics and macrokinetic investigations of high-temperature solid-state reactions.

Time-Resolved X-ray Diffraction Study of Solid Combustion Reactions.

Real-time synchrotron diffraction has been used to monitor the phase transformations of highly exothermic, fast self-propagating solid combustion reactions on a subsecond time scale down to 100 milliseconds and in some instances to 10 milliseconds. Three systems were investigated: Ti + C --> TiC; Ti + C + xNi --> TiC + Ni-Ti alloy; and Al + Ni --> AlNi. In all three reactions, the first step was the melting of the metal reactants. Formation of TiC in the first two reactions was completed within 400 milliseconds of the melting of the Ti metal, indicating that the formation of TiC took place during the passage of the combustion wave front. In the Al + Ni reaction, however, passage of the wave front was followed by the appearance and disappearance of at least one intermediate in the afterburn region. The final AlNi was formed some 5 seconds later and exhibited a delayed appearance of the (210) reflection, which tends to support a phase transformation from a disordered AlNi phase at high temperature to an ordered CsCl structure some 20 seconds later. This new experimental approach can be used to study the chemical dynamics of high-temperature solid-state phenomena and to provide the needed database to test various models for solid combustion.