High temperature oxidation of tantalum carbide (TaC) powder.

Abstract

The high temperature oxidation of tantalum carbide (TaC) powder was investigated in order to determine the application of refractory materials for space crafts and rocket vehicles. TaC powder with an average particle size of about 10μm was used in this experiment. The samples were oxidized at 573 to 1273K for 5min to 25h in air. The weight changes were measured to estimate the oxidation properties. The oxidation of samples, exposed for short oxidation times of 5min, started at 873K and weight changes increase with increasing oxidation temperature. The sample oxidized for 0.5 to 1h, exhibited increasing weight gain with increasing oxidation temperature, and constant weight gain above 973K. On the other hand, for oxidation times above 2h, the weight gain had a maximum value at 1073 to 1273K. After that it had a constant value of only 15%. Based on the results of the X-ray diffraction analysis, tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) was present on the surface of the samples oxidized at 973K.