Formation of SrTiO3 in mechanically activated SrCO3–TiO2 system

In this study, mechanical activation process was used for intimate mixing as well as producing finely ground particles, increased surface area and improved chemical reactivity of milled materials for producing SrTiO3 from commercially pure strontium carbonate and TiO2 as a contributive process. Characterization of milled powder mixture by X-ray diffraction analysis showed that disappearing, decreasing and/or shifting of the patterns occurred with mechanical activation that means amorphization was taken place. Amorphization was also demonstrated by FT-IR analysis where shift of band centers as well as the decrement of transmittance related to CO3 was observed. Advantage of amorphization was established with high-temperature XRD analysis which showed 1300 °C was not enough for non-activated mixture to form SrTiO3, whereas structure only composed of SrTiO3 at 1000 °C for activated ones. The reason for this phenomenon was investigated by DTA-TG analysis, and it was based on energy accumulation originated from mechanical activation that corresponds to peak temperature shifting to the lower temperatures and CO2 liberation at mechanical activation step arising from local temperature rising at the vial during high-energy milling that was understood from peak temperature, and area decrement of endothermic peak corresponds to decomposition of SrCO3. © 2016, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, Hungary