The synthesis and microstructure of morph-genetic TiC/C ceramics

Wood is a natural material with a novel and ordered hierarchical structure. In the present work, it is used as a bio-template to produce morph-genetic TiC/C ceramics. This is obtained by infiltrating the carbon preform pyrolyzed from wood with tetrabutyl titanate. It was subsequently sintered at 1400 °C to produce the final ceramic structure. By observing the microstructure under the scanning electron microscope and the transmission electron microscope, the morph-genetic TiC/C ceramics are shown retaining the complex morphology of the original template structure. The crystalline TiC was formed through the reaction of tetrabutyl titanate with carbon preform, and it was distributed mainly at the surface layer of the cellular wall. During the conversion of wood into carbon preform, the specific surface area of samples increased from 28.2 to 35.7 m 2 g −1 , and its porosity also increased from 64.4% to 80.3%. However, during the conversion of carbon preform into morph-genetic ceramics, the specific surface area of samples decreased from 35.7 to 33.8 m 2 g −1 , and its porosity also decreased from 80.3% to 76.5%. At the synthesis process, the variation of pore-size distribution is mainly in the range from 0.1 to 1 μm.