Structural macrokinetics of synthesizing ZnFe2O4 by mechanical ball milling

Powder mixtures of Fe2O3 and ZnO were milled in a high-energy planetary ball mill to synthesize ZnFe2O4 and X-ray powder diffractometry was used to obtain the relative content of phases, crystallite size and microstrain of both Fe2O3 and ZnFe2O4. The lattice constants of Fe2O3 were obtained by cell refinement method. The macrokinetics and the structure evolution of matters were studied and the results show that the dynamics process of mechanochemical synthesis of ZnFe2O4 fits Avrami-Erofe'ev model and is controlled by a nucleation-growth mechanism, and the structural macrokinetics theory in combustion synthesis research area could be used to describe the kinetic process as well.