In situ formation process and mechanism of bulk MgB2 before Mg melting

Abstract

Differential thermal analysis, as the main means of measurement, was used to prepare bulk MgB2 samples and monitor the sintering reaction process. Combined with microstructure observation by scanning electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction analysis, the formation process of MgB2 phase at the temperature before Mg melting was summarized. Additionally, a new kinetic analysis (a variant on the Flynn–Wall–Ozawa) method under nonisothermal conditions was used to determine that the reaction between Mg and B powders involves random nucleation followed by an instantaneous growth of nuclei (Avrami–Erofeev equation, n = 2), which can properly explain the in situ formation process of bulk MgB2 at the temperature before Mg melting. The value of activation energy E and the function of conversion f(α) are obtained independently, and thereby the determination of mechanism function is not affected by the value of E. The values of E decrease from 175.418 to 160.395 kJ mol−1 with the increase of the conversion degrees (α) from 0.1 to 0.8. However, as the conversion degrees approach 0.9, the value of E increases to 222.647 kJ mol−1, and the corresponding pre-exponential factor A is about three orders of magnitude larger than the previous ones.