Formation of pine-particle molybdenum disilicide in RF nitrogen plasma

Fine-particle molybdenum disilicide powder was obtained by evaporating moly bdenum and silicon powders or coarse-grained MoSi2 in rf nitrogen plasma. T he resultant powder was found to consist of the high-temperature, hexagonal (major phase) and tetragonal forms of MoSi2 with a specific surface area o f 18-33 m(2)/g and an average particle diameter of 0.029-0.053 mu m. The ef fect of processing conditions on the phase composition, specific surface, a nd impurity content (Mo5Si3 and Si) was examined. Chemical analysis reveale d redistribution of the components in the samples studied.