The chemical properties of boemite gel prepared by alkoxy-method were studied by means of differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetric analysis and X-ray diffraction.
1) When boemite gel was heated in air at an atmospheric and reduced pressures, it was converted into a-Al
2O
3 via the following steps.
boemite gel→amorphous alumina→γ-A1
2O
3→θ-Al
2O
3→a-A1
2O
32) Boemite gel, in the case of sample weight 1 g, was easily converted into amorphous alumina gel by grinding in air, but this amorphous alumina gel did not change in spite of grinding for 250 hrs. On the other hand, the ground amorphous alumina gel was directly converted into α-Al
2O
3 at 990°C by heating.
3) In the conversion to α-Al
2O
3 through θ-Al
2O
3 from γ-Al
2O
3, the nucleation process may be the rate-determining step. The apparent activation energy for this process was about 115 kcal/mol.
4) Reactions of γ-Al
2O
3 and α-Al
2O
3 with ZnO were fitted to Dander's equation. At 850°C, the reaction rate constant of ZnO-γ⋅Al
2O
3 system was found to be about eighty six times as large as that of ZnO-a⋅Al
2O
3 system. The activation energies of ZnAl2O4 formation in ZnO-γ⋅Al
2O
3 system and ZnO-α⋅Al
2O
3 system were about 51 kcal/mol and 88 kcal/mol, respectively.
View full abstract