On the Mechanism of the Initial Stage of Titanium–Carbon Interaction

High-speed micro video recording and electron and atomic force microscopy have been used to obtain new experimental data at the initial stage of the titanium melt spreading along a carbon material (oriented pyrolytic graphite) and the formation of a reaction product. It has been shown that the melt spreading at the initial stages takes place along a framework of flat submicron crystalline grains of TiC with an open porosity. The grains form an island structure at the reagent contact boundary with gaps of about 100 nm in width between them, and these gaps are connected to each other to give a continuous network of channels along which the melt spreads. Thus, at the initial stage of the interaction, despite the formation of a solid product, direct contact of the reagents is retained, which ensures a high process speed.