Thermo-gravimetric kinetics analysis for the synthesis of lithium aluminate and fabrication of pebbles by solid state reaction process

Abstract

Lithium aluminate is considered as the solid breeder materials and it can be synthesized by different methods. In the present study, lithium aluminate was synthesized using lithium carbonate and alumina as raw materials, by using solid state reaction process (SSRP). The reaction temperature and time of reaction were optimized using TG-DTA and XRD analysis. The reaction kinetics for the synthesis of lithium aluminate was investigated using TG-DTA data, which is not reported till date. It was found that the reaction is controlled by third order chemical reaction at initial stage and further controlled by diffusion. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor are 292 kJ/mol and 2.29 × 1017 respectively. Lithium aluminate pebbles were fabricated using SSRP and found the process is highly suitable for the synthesis and fabrication of lithium aluminate pebbles. The density of the sintered pebbles was found to be about 90% of theoretical density. The details of the synthesis, pebble fabrication, sintering and kinetic study are discussed here.