Mechanochemical synthesis of Ti(C,N) nanopowder from titanium and melamine

•Ti(C,N) nanopowder was synthesized by mechanochemical method form Ti and melamine.•Decomposition of melamine was a rate-determining step of the mechanochemical reaction.•Melamine was not only a reactant in the reaction but also had a PCA effect.

Ti and melamine were used as raw materials to prepare Ti(C,N) powder by mechanochemical processing. Raman spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, XPS, elemental analyzer and ICP-MS were used to characterize the synthesized powder. The results showed that the chemical composition of titanium carbonitride after 100 h of milling was Ti(C0.37N0.63)0.94 and the particle size was 10–20 nm. Melamine was not only a reactant in the reaction, but also had a process control agent effect, which facilitated the generation of ultrafine Ti particles during the activated period. Melamine decomposed by means of ball milling and formed carbon and nitrogen-based active radicals which reacted with refined Ti particles and formed nano-scale Ti(C,N) powder.