We report the feasibility of TaC production via self-propagating high temperature synthesis, and the influence of the initial green compact density on the final composite particle size. Experiments are carried out from a minimum pressure of 0.3 MPa, the pressure at which the initial green body becomes self-standing, up to 3 MPa, the point at which no further combustion occurs. The green density of the pellets varies from 29.99% to 42.97%, as compared with the theoretical density. The increase in green density decreases the powder size of TaC, and the smallest particle size is observed with 1.5 MPa, at 10.36 μm. Phase analysis results confirm the presence of the TaC phase only. In the range of 0.3-0.5 MPa, traces of unreacted Ta and C residues are detected. However, results also show the presence of only C residue in the matrix within the pressure range of 0.6-3.0 MPa.

An ultra-high temperature ceramic, tantalum carbide, has received much attention for its favorable characteristics: a superior melting point and chemical compatibility with carbon and other carbides. One drawback is the high temperature erosion of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites. To address this drawback, we deposited TaC on C/C with silicon carbide as an intermediate layer. Prior to the TaC deposition, the TaCl5-C3H6-H2 system was thermodynamically analyzed with FactSage 6.2 and compared with the TaCl5-CH4-H2 system. The results confirmed that the TaCl5-C3H6-H2 system had a more realistic cost and deposition efficiency than TaCl5-CH4-H2. A dense and uniform TaC layer was successfully deposited under conditions of Ta/C = 0.5, 1200 oC and 100 torr. This study verified that the thermodynamic analysis is appropriate as a guide and prerequisite for carbide deposition.