As cutting materials and wear-resistant materials, the composites reinforced by Ti(C,N) have very high performances. The super-high cost of these composites, however, limits apparently their wider application to industry due to use of very expensive Ti(C,N) powders. Therefore, it is very necessary to develop a new process technology with low fabrication cost. In the present work, ilmenite (FeTiO3), which is very cheap and very rich in China, was used to fabricate the Ti(C,N) powder directly. The phase evolution during carbothermic reduction process of ilmenite was investigated by XRD, TG-DSC and thermodynamic calculation. The ilmenite and graphite were mixed by high energy ball milling and then sintered in pure flowing nitrogen atmosphere. The experimental results showed that a new phase, Ti4O7, appeared at 900 ℃ and disappeared at 1100 ℃ while sintered in pure flowing nitrogen atmosphere. The phase evolution during carbothermic reduction process of ilmenite was found to be continuous as FeTiO3→Ti4O7→T3O5→TiCN. XRD results showed that the composite powders produced in the present reaction were composed of α-Fe and TiC1-xNx. The thermodynamic calculation results were agreeable with experimental results. As cutting materials and wear-resistant materials, the composites reinforced by Ti (C, N) have very high performances. The super-high cost of these composites, however, limits apparently their wider application to industry due to use of very expensive Ti Therefore, it is very necessary to develop a new process technology with low fabrication cost. In the present work, ilmenite (FeTiO3), which is very cheap and very rich in China, was used to fabricate the Ti ( The phase evolution during carbothermic reduction process of ilmenite was investigated by XRD, TG-DSC and thermodynamic calculation. The ilmenite and graphite were mixed by high energy ball milling and then sintered in pure flowing nitrogen atmosphere. results showed that a new phase, Ti4O7, exhibited at 900 ℃ and disappeared at 1100 ℃ while sintering in pure flowing nitrogen atmosphere. The phase evolution during carbothermic reduction process of ilmenite was found to be continu ous as FeTiO3 → Ti4O7 → T3O5 → TiCN. XRD results showed that the composite powders produced in the present reaction were composed of α-Fe and TiC1-xNx. The thermodynamic calculation results were agreeable with experimental results.