Paper Title
Direct Nitridation Of Aluminium Under Flowing Nitrogen Gas: The Effect Of Oxygen Pressure

Abstract
AlN has found applications in the automobile industry, aerospace, electronic industry, high temperature applications and other areas. Nitridation of aluminium in the forms of ingot and powder were carried out in a stainless steel tube furnace under flowing nitrogen gas at temperatures below the melting point of aluminium (5500 – 6300 C). Magnesium powder and hydrogen gas were separately used to reduce the oxygen pressure of the furnace. The results showed that the use hydrogen gas successfully reduced oxygen pressure below the permissible value, which promoted nitridation process. XRD results gave AlN peaks with highest intensities (for both Al coupon and powder) at 6300 C after 4 hours of holding time when hydrogen gas was jointly flown with nitrogen gas into the furnace. The AlN peak intensities increased with temperature and holding time. XRD result did not revealed AlN peaks in the Al coupons nitrided in the absence of hydrogen gas. Keywords- Aluminium, Aluminium Nitride, Direct Nitridation, Oxygen Pressure, XRD,