Formation of AlN from Secondary Al Resources

Synthesis of AlN by NH4Cl-assisted direct nitridation of secondary Al resources was studied. Aluminum alloy scrap contained Mg and Zn element was used. Milled Al scrap （-1 mm） was mixed with NH4Cl and heated at 1000℃ for 1 h in presence of 1 L/min N2 flow gas. The nitrided product was evaluated by X-ray diffraction semi-quantitative analysis and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Aluminium nitride of 90.5% concentration was obtained with a hexagonal crystalline form. AlN is mostly formed in nano-whisker morphology （50～150 nm） which is homogenously distributed.