A dense plate of the mixed Ni-Fe sulfide of Ni
3S
2-3 mass%FeS was oxidized in a mixed O
2-N
2 gas stream at 923, 973 and 1023 K. The oxygen partial pressure was maintained at 2.0×10
4 Pa. The sample mass was increased during the oxidation, and the rate of mass increase was higher than that in the oxidation of Ni
3S
2. A very small amount of SO
2 gas was evolved in the initial few hundred seconds, and no SO
2 gas was evolved thereafter during the oxidation for 72 ks. SEM observation, EPMA and powder X-ray diffraction revealed that a multi-layered oxide film of Fe
2O
3, Fe
3O
4 and Ni
xFe
3−xO
4 was formed on the sample surface.
In the early stage of oxidation, a thin layer of Fe oxide was rapidly formed, and the rate was controlled by the iron diffusion in the sulfide core. The activation energy was 190 kJ·mol
−1. In the subsequent stage of oxidation, both the Fe oxide and Ni
xFe
3−xO
4 layers grew in accordance with the parabolic rate law. The growth rate of Fe oxide was controlled by diffusion of iron through the oxide layer with the activation energy of 127 kJ·mol
−1. The chemical diffusion coefficient of Ni in the Ni
xFe
3−xO
4 layer was estimated as 10
−16 to 10
−17 m
2·s
−1. The Ni concentration in Ni
xFe
3−xO
4 layer was increased with the reaction time, until the composition attained NiFe
2O
4. Thereafter, NiO was formed between the sulfide and NiFe
2O
4 in the oxidation at 1023 K.
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