Characterization of Physical and Structural Properties of Aluminium Carbide Powder: Impact of Biofield Treatment

Aluminium carbide (Al4C3) has gained extensive attention due to its abrasive and creep resistance properties. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physical and structural properties of Al4C3 powder. The Al4C3 powder was divided into two parts i.e. control and treated. Control part was remained as untreated and treated part received biofield treatment. Subsequently, control and treated Al4C3 samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area analyser and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). XRD data revealed that lattice parameter and unit cell volume of treated Al4C3 samples were increased by 0.33 and 0.66% respectively, as compared to control. The density of treated Al4C3 samples was reduced upto 0.65% as compared to control. In addition, the molecular weight and crystallite size of treated Al4C3 samples were increased upto 0.66 and 249.53% respectively as compared to control. Furthermore, surface area of treated Al4C3 sample was increased by 5% as compared to control. The FT-IR spectra revealed no significant change in absorption peaks of treated Al4C3 samples as compared to control. Thus, XRD and surface area results suggest that biofield treatment has substantially altered the physical and structural properties of treated Al4C3 powder.

Biofield treatment showed an increased lattice parameter and unit cell volume of treated Al4C3samples upto 0.33 and 0.66% respectively, as compared to control. It may be due to tensile stress, which probably generated in treated Al4C3 samples after biofield treatment. In addition, the molecular weight was increased upto 0.66% in treated Al4C3 samples as compared to control. It is hypothesized that biofield treatment may induce nuclear level reaction, which resulted into increase of molecular weight in treated Al4C3 sample. Besides, the crystallite size of treated Al4C3samples was significantly increased upto 285.08 nm from 81.56 nm (in control). The increase in crystallite size could improve the creep resistance and abrasive properties of treated Al4C3samples. Furthermore, the surface area was increased by 5% in treated Al4C3 samples as compared to control. It could be due to alteration of shape/size of Al4C3 particles after biofield treatment. However, no significant change was observed in absorption peaks in FT-IR spectra of treated Al4C3 as compared to control. Therefore, based on above outcomes of XRD and surface area analysis, it is assumed that treated Al4C3with high creep resistance could be more useful in automobile and aircraft manufacturing industries.