Accounting for nonstoichiometry of niobium carbide NbC$_y$ upon milling to a nanocrystalline state

The dependence of the size of particles in the prepared nanocrystalline powders on the composition of nonstoichiometric compounds within their homogeneity intervals has been considered in terms of the high-energy ball milling model. It has been shown that the effect of nonstoichiometry on the milling manifests itself in the concentration dependences of the main characteristics (parameters of the crystal structure, energy of interatomic bonds, elastic properties) of the milled nonstoichiometric compound. The results of model calculations performed for nonstoichiometric cubic niobium carbides NbC$_y$ have been compared with the experimental data on milling of the NbC$_{0.93}$ carbide.