Melting of aluminum nitride at atmospheric nitrogen pressure

Experimental results on the melting of aluminum nitride heated by an electric arc burning in a nitrogen atmosphere at a pressure of 0.2–0.3 MPa are presented. A qualitative explanation of the dissociation suppression mechanism under arc heating is proposed. It has been shown that the suppression is possible at atmospheric pressure due to the photoactivation of aluminum on the sample surface by resonant radiation of aluminum vapors present in the electric arc.