Structural Evolution of Rod Milled Cu_2O and Ti Powders during Mechanical Solid State Reduction

摘要

The mechanical solid state reduction (MSSR) of cuprous oxide (Cu_2O) to metallic copper (Cu) using elemental titanium (Ti) as reducing agent (RA), is reported. This process takes place in an argon atmosphere rod mill at room temperature. The progress of MSSR has been followed by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and differential thermal analysis. The metallographic characterizations of the rod-milled powders were studied by optical microscope. The results have shown that a complete reduction of Cu_2O to pure metallic Cu occurs after 360 ks of rod milling time. The end-product of the MSSR process is a mixture of nanocrystalline Cu and TiO_2 powders with an average crystallite size of 7 nm.