Deoxidation of iron oxide by ball-milling

The possibility of deoxidation of iron oxide by ball-milling was studied by XRD, SEM and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Iron oxide (alpha-Fe2O3:hematite) powder and titanium (Ti) powder were charged into a container for ball-milling with stainless steel balls. The container was filled with argon gas. Milling was interrupted at 50, 60,80,100, 200, 300, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 hours to take samples for analysis. An ordinary rotatory ball-milling machine was used for the experiment. The Bragg peaks of alpha-Fe(110),(200) and (211) appeared in the XRD pattern at 80 hours of milling. At the same time, the intensity of the Bragg peaks of Fe2O3 and Ti decreased rapidly and almost disappeared at 600 hours of milling. The changes of morphology of the samples were observed by SEM. The shape of iron oxide powder was spongy at the first stage of milling. After 100 hours of milling the shape was more lump-like. The results of Mossbauer spectroscopy show that the alpha-Fe is formed by deoxidation of Fe2O3 after just 50 hours of ball-milling. The amount of the alpha-Fe increased and Fe2O3 decreased with milling time. A small amount of TiFe2O4-like ferrite and Ti1-xFexO-like wustite remained at 1000 hours of milling.