Mechanical activation assisted synthesis of nanostructure MgAl2O4 from gibbsite and lansfordite

•Nanostructure spinel was synthesized from gibbsite and lansfordite.•A mechanism was suggested for the spinel formation.•The spinel nanostructure powder had a mean crystallite size of about 35 nm.

Mechanical activation is an efficient method to synthesize nanostructure materials. This research is focused on the production of nanostructure spinel (MgAl2O4) powder using the ball milling process. For this purpose, a mixture of gibbsite and lansfordite powders was subjected to planetary ball milling. The obtained powder particles after different milling times and various heat treatment histories were evaluated by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that single-phase nanostructure spinel powder can be obtained after 6 and 10 h ball milling with respective annealing at 1000 and 1200 °C for 1 h.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide