| Abstract Scope |
Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition is a process in which materials are deposited from a gaseous precursor into a solid phase. Using a laser, with its focused ‘hot spot,’ the deposition is localized, enabling fibers to be additive manufactured. Here, we report the growth of TiC fibers using titanium tetrachloride, hydrogen, and ethylene gas mixtures. As the hydrogen content increased, it became more challenging to produce a sequential series of fibers in a batch process, and the fibers were tubes created by the congregation of hydrogen in the deposition region. In a hydrogen-lean mixture, the hydrocarbon gas precipitated carbon ‘dust,’ which coated the TiC fibers. These prior processing issues were avoided by depositing TiC fibers in a hydrogen-balanced mixture. This processing space is modeled through a series of thermodynamic maps that reveal these phase formations, with the kinetics captured through modeling thermophoresis effects during deposition. |