Synthesis of tungsten carbide nanoparticles encapsulated with graphite shell

The investigation of the interaction in a tungsten-soot system containing excess soot under intensive mechanical treatment and annealing was made. The tungsten:soot molar ratio was varied from 1:1.3 to 1:2. Soot was taken in excess with respect to W in order to ensure obtaining WC without admixtures of W or W2C. An increase in mechanical treatment time from 10 to 30 min leads to the appearance of reflections corresponding to tungsten carbides. The final product of chemical reactions in preliminary activated and annealed at temperatures exceeding 923 K tungsten-soot mixtures with an excess of soot is WC, which is formed as nano-capsules with a nucleus size of 20-140 nm and a graphite shell 4-30 nm thick. Transmission electron microscope photographs of WC nanoencapsulated particles are presented.