Structural Evolution of Rod Milled Cu₂O and Ti Powders during Mechanical Solid State Reduction

Abstract

The mechanical solid state reduction (MSSR) of cuprous oxide (Cu₂O) 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 Cu₂O 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 TiO₂ powders with an average crystallite size of 7 nm.