Deposition of Aluminum onto Titanium Powder in its Self-Convective Motion by DC Sputtering

The deposition of pure aluminum onto pure titanium powder in its self-convective motion by magnetron DC sputtering was examined in order to prepare Ti-Al composite particles, aiming at the development of highly uniform sintered (binary compact) materials. The self-convection phenomenon of the titanium powder occurred in the vacuum chamber when a perpendicular vibration was applied to the powder. The sputter-deposition of the aluminum film onto the titanium particles was carried out during the self-convection of the titanium powder. Under visual observation, the color tone of the powder obtained after the sputter-deposition looked light gray, i.e., the color tone of sputtered aluminum film, while that before the sputter-deposition had looked dark gray, i.e., the color tone of the pure titanium powder. Thus it was assumed that the titanium powder was coated with the aluminum film. According to AES analysis, it was found that the obtained particles were coated with the deposited aluminum film because Auger aluminum transition peaks of both Al-LVV and Al-KLL were detected on the surface of the particles without Auger titanium transition peaks detected. Therefore it was found that Ti-Al composite powder could be produced by this processing and thereby the highly uniformed sintered binary compact materials are expected to be developed.