Y. SAFAE-NAEN - School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology Tehran, Iran
M. AMINZARE - School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology Tehran, Iran
F. GOLESTANI-FARD - School of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology Tehran, Iran

MgAl2O4 (MA) spinel nano powder was synthesized using a molten salt technique, by heating stochiometric composition of MgO and AlOOH. NaCl salt was used as reactor media for MA spinel formation. Reactants and molten salt mixtures were fired in an alumina crucible for 3 h at temperature ranges from 850 °C to 1000 °C. The synthesis temperature was decreased from 1300 C required by the conventional solid-solid reaction process to 850 C for molten salt approach. The synthesized powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction pattern OXRD), scaning electron microscopy (SEM) and Brunauer-Emmett–Teller technique (BET). XRD revealed complete formation of MA without remaining of any secondary phase for synthesized powder fired at 850 °C for 3 h. Moreover, electron microscopy illustrated that the MA morphology and size was the same as the nano boehmite morphology which confirmed the existence of a template process mechanism during the molten salt synthesis. In addition, high surface area for nano MA powders was achieved in this method.

Molten salt; nanopowder, synthesis; low temperature, MgAl2O4