Formation of iron oxides during mechanical activation in water

It has been shown that mechanical milling of iron in water results in formation of nanocrystalline magnetite Fe3O4 with an average particle size of 0.6 μm, saturation magnetization of 77 Am2/kg and coercivity of ∼150 A/cm. Along with magnetite, an antiferromagnetic Fe-O phase (∼10 wt%), which is an aggregate of small iron-oxygen clusters forms.