This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic, and Organometallic Program is made to Dr. Frederick C. Sauls of the Chemistry Department, King's College, for research on precursors to mixed titanium and aluminum nitride ceramics. Titanium and titanium-aluminum compounds with amide and hydrazide bridging groups will be prepared and characterized using NMR, ESR, X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. Oligomeric and polymeric aluminum- and titanium-containing species and mixed-metal compounds will be pyrolyzed to form the ceramics. The research will be done in collaboration with Dr. Leonard V. Interrante of the Chemistry Department, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. %%% Ceramic materials containing titanium and aluminum nitride have potential as semiconductors and abrasives. Although some materials of this type have been prepared by carbothermal reduction and by sputtering techniques, they have not been obtained by pyrolysis of an orgamometallic precursor, a method which has been shown effective in preparing high purity non-oxide ceramics of controlled composition. In this research, suitable precursors will be prepared and their behavior upon pyrolysis will be studied. Fundamental information on bonding between titanium and aluminum and nitrogen will also be obtained.
