Study of the structure and properties of interstitial alloys TixMo1 – xCyNz

Developing the new materials with improved properties suggests study of the crystal structure and properties of multicomponent interstitial alloys. We present the results of studying the crystal structure and microhardness of Ti x Mo 1 – x C y N z interstitial alloys in massive samples with different ratios of concentrations of constituent elements. The samples obtained by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis were subjected to homogenizing annealing at 2600 K for 8 h and cooled together with the furnace. Data of neutron diffraction revealed that the alloys have a face-centered cubic crystal structure in which Ti and Mo atoms, as well as C and N, are intersubstituted and statistically located in the 4 b positions and octahedral 4 a positions, respectively. The Rietveld method was used to determine crystallite sizes, dislocation densities, and microstrain using X-ray diffraction patterns. The microhardness of the samples was determined by the Vickers method. It is shown that the crystallite sizes determined by the Williamson-Hall and Scherrer methods differ significantly, whereas the patterns of crystallite growth in size, as well as regularities of changes in the dislocation density and microstrains follow change in the concentration of the components in the composition. As the carbon content in the alloy increases, the crystallite sizes and microstrains decrease, and the dislocation density increases. It is revealed that the smaller the crystallite size and the higher the dislocation density, the more microhardness is displaced towards increasing the carbon content. With a change in the ratio of components in Ti x Mo 1 – x C y N z as the crystallite size and microstrains decrease and dislocation density increases, the microhardness of the alloy increases by 1.5 – 2 times compared to binary carbide and titanium nitride. The results obtained can be applied to the use of interstitial alloys in instrumental and high-temperature engineering.