Synthesis and characterization of V8C7 nanocrystalline powder by heating milled mixture of V2O5, C and Ca via mechanochemical activation

•The possibility of VCX nano-powder synthesis from V2O5, Ca and C by mechanical alloying technique was investigated.•To completed phase formation microwave heating was performed for 15 milled samples.•Characterizations of samples were done by FESEM and X-ray diffraction.

In this study, nano-crystalline vanadium carbide was synthesized through reduction of V2O5 by carbon and Ca using high energy ball milling and subsequent heat treatment. Vanadium pentoxide, calcium and carbon black were placed in a planetary ball mill and sampled after different milling times. The activated powders were synthesized by microwave heating at temperatures 800 °C. XRD and FESEM were used for characterization of synthesized powder. On the basis of obtained results, the synthesized V8C7 crystallites were in the scale of nanometers and the lattice parameter had some deviation from the standard value. Furthermore, investigations showed that at higher milling time, the amorphization degree of V4C3 phase increased, while the degree of crystallite decreased.

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