XPS Study on Calcining Mixtures of Brucite with Titania
Karla Sofía Sánchez-Zambrano, Marina Hernández-Reséndiz, Cristian Gómez-Rodríguez, Linda Viviana García-Quiñonez, J.A. Aguilar-Martínez, Edén Amaral Rodríguez-Castellanos, Luis Felipe Verdeja González, Daniel Fernández González, Guadalupe Rodríguez
Abstract
In this work, we studied the phases in a Mg-Ti-O system using a 1:1 formulation of MgO:TiO2, mixing synthetic brucite of Mexican origin with TiO2 microparticles of high purity, with a heat treatment at 1100 °C for 1 h. Due to its valence electrons, TiO2 can contribute to the sintering process to improve density in MgO products. The raw materials and formulation by XPS and X-RD techniques were characterized. The results demonstrate the presence of different oxidation states in titania and the formation of different oxides in the Mg-Ti-O system when mixed and calcined at 1100 °C; additionally, we estimated the formation of vacancies in the crystal lattice during the transformation from hexagonal brucite to magnesia with a cubic structure centered on the faces. Its thermal behavior is indicated by the MgO-TiO2 phase diagram.