Effect of Different Precursors on Synthesized AlN by Plasma-Assisted Ball Milling

A rapid and high efficient method for synthesized aluminum nitride (AlN) nano-powers by using plasma-assisted ball milling (p-milling) has been reported. P-Milling displayed an excellent synergistic effect as unique advantage, which is characterized by concurrent action of rapid heating from plasma and the impact stress from ball milling on the precursors, and it greatly reduced the synthesis temperature for precursors and effectively improved the synthesized efficiency of AlN. Additionally, the characterization of alumina (Al₂O₃) and mixture of alumina and carbon (Al₂O₃/C) precursors, as well as corresponding synthesized AlN, were investigated and compared, and the results showed that the synthesized AlN from Al₂O₃/C precursor has a much higher conversion rate at lower temperature even if the grain size was relatively greater than that from Al₂O₃ precursor. Moreover, the synthesized AlN powders from p-milling Al₂O₃/C have a better superiority on particle size, particle distribution, and crystal morphology.