Plasma Spray Method

Abstract

The invention relates to a plasma spray method which can serve as a starting point for a manufacture of metal nanopowder, nitride nanopowder or carbide nanopowder or metal films, nitride films or carbide films. To achieve an inexpensive manufacture of the nanopowder or of the film, in the plasma spray in accordance with the invention a starting material (P) which contains a metal or silicon oxide is introduced into a plasma jet (113) at a process pressure of at most 1000 Pa, in particular at most 400 Pa. The starting material (P) contains a metal or silicon oxide which vaporizes in the plasma jet (113) and is reduced in so doing. After the reduction, the metal or silicon which formed the metal or silicon oxide in the starting material is thus present in pure form or in almost pure form. The metal or silicon can be deposited in the form of nanopowder or of a film (124). Nitride nanoparticles or films or carbide nanoparticles or films can be generated inexpensively by addition of a reactant (R) containing nitrogen or carbon.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 of European Patent Application No. 12156660.8 filed on Feb. 23, 2012, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not applicable.REFERENCE TO A COMPACT DISK APPENDIX[0003]Not applicable.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]It is known that nitride nanopowder or carbide nanopowder can be manufactured using suitable liquid or gaseous starting materials, so-called precursors. In this connection, a nanopowder should be understood as a powder having a grain size of approximately 1 nm to 1 μm. Suitable precursors, for example titanium tetrachloride or tetrakis (dimethylamino) titanium, are very expensive and usually very toxic or dangerous. The precursors are vaporized for manufacturing the nanopowder and form nanopowder in a reactive chemical gas phase deposition process (a so-c...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention is a method to make metal or silicon nanopowder, nitride nanopowder, or carbide nanopowder using a plasma spray method. The method introduces a reactant containing nitrogen and / or carbon into the plasma, which allows the reduced metal or silicon oxide to react with the reactant to form a metal or silicon nitride, metal or silicon carbide. This method is cost-effective and safe, and can be used to manufacture metal or silicon dioxide nanopowder from non-meltable nitrides or carbides like silicon nitride.

Problems solved by technology

Suitable precursors, for example titanium tetrachloride or tetrakis (dimethylamino) titanium, are very expensive and usually very toxic or dangerous.

This is not possible or is only possible with limitations with known spray methods for coating.

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