Sintering of Nanophase TiO2 At 550°C

Abstract

ABSTRACTSamples of nanophase TiO2 were prepared by the condensation of Ti vapors into clusters, their in situ oxidation to TiO2, and their consolidation into thin disks. Small angle neutron scattering was measured in the as-consolidated condition and after selected isothermal sintering anneals of up to 23 h at 550°C. The maximum entropy analysis method was used to obtain the size distributions of the scattering centers from the scattering curves. The results are interpreted in terms of a microstructural model consisting of nanometer sized grains of TiO2 separated by about 0.5 nm wide boundary regions, which contain voids and TiO2 of ≤60–70% of bulk density.