The 4th Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Symposium (NNS2011), 23-25 September 2011, Bali, Indonesia

Enhancement of Carbothermic Reduction of Al2O3 via Mechanical Milling

Asep Ridwan Setiawan1, Makoto Ohtsuka2 and Hiroyuki Fukuyama2
Research Groups of Material Science and Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Institute of Technology Bandung, Jl.Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia 2 Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM), Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577 Japan * Email: asep.ridwans@material.itb.ac.id
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ABSTRACT
The mixture of Al2O3 and graphite with a molar ratio (1:3) were mechanically milled in a planetary ball mill at room temperature using zirconia ball. The mixture was milled for 0.5, 1, 2, 4 and 8 h in air atmosphere. Unmilled and milled mixtures were characterized using a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), specific surface area analysis (SSA), and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). TG analysis indicated that the reduction reaction of milled sample occurs at lower temperature compared to the unmilled sample. Mechanical milling of Al 2O3-graphite mixtures has led to the following results; size reduction of the Al 2O3 crystallite up to ~20nm, formation of amorphous graphite and the increase in the surface area of Al 2O3 particles. Keywords: carbothermic reduction, mechanical milling, amorphous graphite, Al 2O3 PACS: 81.20.Ev

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