An alternate approach to synthesize TiC powder through thermal plasma processing of titania rich slag

This paper reports the preparation of fine titanium carbide (TiC) powder by using titania rich slag as a cheap raw material. The mixture of titania rich slag and activated charcoal was reacted in a thermal plasma reactor for 30 min under argon flowing atmosphere. The reaction product, a fused mass of Fe-TiC composite, was milled to fine powder at ambient atmosphere for 10 h then chemically leached for the removal of iron and other minor impurities. The obtained TiC powder after leaching was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, electron probe micro analysis (EPMA), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and particle size analysis (PSA). XRD, Raman spectroscopy results confirmed the formation of TiC. EPMA, EDS results indicated the synthesized product obtained after leaching to be free from iron and other minor impurities. Particle size analysis result revealed the average particle size of TiC powder to be 2.54 µm.