Oxidation kinetics of aluminum nitride at different oxidizing atmosphere

In the present work, the oxidation kinetics of AlN powder was investigated by using thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The experiments were carried out both in isothermal as well as non-isothermal modes under two different oxidizing atmospheres. The results showed that the oxidation reaction started at around 1100 K and the rate increased significantly beyond 1273 K forming porous aluminum oxide as the reaction product. The oxidation rate was affected by temperature and oxygen partial pressure. A distinct change in the oxidation mechanism was noticed in the temperature range 1533–1543 K which is attributed to the phase transformation in oxidation product, viz. alumina. Diffusion is the controlling step during the oxidation process. Based on the experimental data, a new model for predicting the oxidation process of AlN powder had been developed, which offered an analytic form expressing the oxidation weight increment as a function of time, temperature and oxygen partial pressure. The application of this new model to this system demonstrated that this model could be used to describe the oxidation behavior of AlN powder.