Rapid iron borate (FeB03) powder fabrication using microwaveheating

摘要

Microwave assisted synthesis of crystalline FeBO_3 powder is investigated in a multimode cavity at 2.45GHz as a possible method for faster synthesis. An Alumina-SiC susceptor enclosure was placed inside the cavity to overcome poor microwave absorption of the precursor at low temperatures. Enhanced diffusion was observed with appropriate precursor viscosity at reaction temperature. Less than 8 hours was found enough to complete FeBO_3 synthesis, as compared with more than 20 hours of synthesis using conventional muffle oven. Microwave enhanced diffusion was not obvious with too high viscosity and eventually leveled by thermal diffusion with too low viscosity. The microwave synthesized FeBO_3 particles were found more rhombohedral and smaller than conventional furnace synthesized ones, thus are inherently more suitable as optical composite materials.