Study on Preparation of Homogenized Highly Dispersible AlON Powder

The quality of Aluminum oxynitride (AlON) powder is the main factor affecting the properties of ceramics. To accurately control the nitrogen AlON content and improve the dispersion degree of powder, AlON powder was prepared from γ-Al 2 O 3 and activated carbon powder by carbothermic reduction and nitridation. The uniformity of distribution of raw materials and the dimension and microstructure of AlON powder was controlled by changing the time and rotation rate of the ball milling process. The influences of ball milling process parameters on the microstructure and distribution uniformity of Al 2 O 3 /C mixed powder, microstructure, and particle size of AlON powder were studied. The results show that powder agglomeration was effectively reduced, and the uniformity of raw material distribution was increased by controlling the time and rotation rate of the ball milling process. The Al 2 O 3 /C mixed powder has good particle size and uniform distribution with roller ball milling for 24 h. After holding the powder at 1700 °C for 60 min, the homogenized AlON powder was obtained, and the residual carbon content was about 0.04 wt%. When the time of planetary ball milling at 250 rpm was 16 h, highly dispersible AlON powder was obtained.