Effect of pH on Production Process and Characteristics of Zirconium Carbide Nano Particles Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method

Saeid Baghshahi¹, Mahmoud Shayestefar^1, and Bahman Mirhadi¹

¹Department of Material Science and Engineering, Imam Khomeini International University, Ghazvin, Iran

Cite this paper:
Saeid Baghshahi, Mahmoud Shayestefar and Bahman Mirhadi. Effect of pH on Production Process and Characteristics of Zirconium Carbide Nano Particles Synthesized by Sol-Gel Method. American Journal of Materials Engineering and Technology. 2016; 4(1):6-10. doi: 10.12691/materials-4-1-2

Abstract

Zirconium carbide nanoparticles were synthesized by a sol–gel method. Zirconium n-Propoxide and sucrose were used as sources of zirconium and carbon, respectively. The influence of pH value of solution on the properties of the resultant powder was investigated. The reactions were substantially completed at a relatively low temperature (1400°C). X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to study crystal structure and morphology of the synthesized powder. XRD analysis showed that at the highest pH, only ZrC phase could be observed. Results also show that pH has a strong effect on the particles size range of ZrC powder so that at pH 4.2, 5.2 and 6.2, the size range of 130–190, 90–150 and 50–100 nm were obtained, respectively. It was also found that pH variation had no effect on the morphology of the sphere-shaped particles.

Keywords:
zirconium carbide sol–gel pH value particle size

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