Mechanical activation of raw materials in the synthesis of Fe2O3–ZrSiO4 inclusion pigment

Abstract

The traditional ceramic industry has recently witnessed increasing interest in the obtainment of inclusion pigments to stabilize at firing temperature and in the action of molten glass unstable chromospheres such as hematite or cadmium sulphoselenide. This work focuses in the introduction, before the calcination step, of a high energy milling step (mechanosynthesis) to improve the inclusion efficiency of hematite into the zircon matrix by solid state reaction. In particular the synthesis of hematite–zircon inclusion pigment was optimized through an accurate control of the raw material milling time and calcination temperature. The mechanical activation modifies the conditions in which chemical reactions usually take place changing the reactivity of as-milled solids by increase of reaction rates and lowering the reaction temperatures of ground powders.