Use of Emanation Thermal Analysis in Characterisation of Nanosized Hematite Prepared by Dry Grinding of Goethite.

Hematite nanoparticles of narrow size distribution were prepared by grinding of goethite. Intermediate and final products of grinding were characterised by different techniques, including the less-common emanation thermal analysis (ETA). ETA was shown to be a useful technique for characterising processes of surface annealing, initial sintering and growth of hematite particles under in situ conditions of thermal treatment. A good agreement was found between results of ETA, TG, XRD, IR spectrometry, transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, used for characterisation of thermal behaviour of the goethite samples ground for varying time (0–70 h). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]