Effects of drying method on preparation of nanometer α-Al₂O₃

Abstract

Ammonium aluminum carbonate hydroxide (AACH) precursor was synthesized by the precipitation reaction of aluminum sulfate and ammonium carbonate. Then the precursor was dealt with five drying methods including ordinary drying, alcohol exchange, vacuum freeze-drying, glycol distillation, n-butanol azeotropic distillation respectively and calcined at 1 200 °C for 2 h to get α-Al₂O₃. The effects of drying methods on preparation of nanometer α-Al₂O₃ were discussed, and the optimal drying method was confirmed. The structural properties of powders were characterized by XRD, SEM and BET measurements. The results show that vacuum freeze-drying, glycol distillation and n-butanol azeotropic distillation can prevent the powders from aggregating, and among them the n-butanol azeotropic distillation is the best method. The nanometer α-Al₂O₃ powder with non-aggregation can be manufactured using n-butanol azeotropic distillation and the average particle size is about 40 nm.

Keywords

nanometer α-Al₂O₃ / drying method / aggregation

References

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