Mechanical alloying in Fe2O3-MO (M: Zn, Ni, Cu, Mg) systems

Mechanical alloying processes in four Fe2O3MO (M: Zn, Ni, Cu, Mg) systems by high-energy ball milling from simple oxide powder mixtures in both open and closed tungsten carbide containers have been investigated by x-ray powder diffraction and Mossbauer spectroscopy. Mechanisms for the formation of MFe2O4 ferrites are critically discussed. No significant with respect to ferrite formation rates was observed in open and closed containers used here. In the Fe2O3/ZnO system, a single ferrite phase can be synthesized but in other systems no significant amounts of ferrites are formed by high-energy ball milling under the conditions used here. The dominant alloying mechanism depends on the interdiffusion at relatively low temperatures. The experimental results may also be explained by the crystal structures of the reactants and the ferrites.