Nonoxide ceramics titanium carbide (TiC) has been prepared from ilmenite by using an extended arc plasma reactor under Ar atmosphere with an optimum time period of 20 min. The TiC product obtained after the acid treatment is of high purity and well comparable to the commercial available powder. The XRD and Raman analyses clearly predict that the product contains only TiC matrix without having any impurity. The particle size measurement and scanning electron micrograph predict that the range of the powders is within 10 mu m whereas the commercial powder has a broad range from 10 to 80 mu m. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.