Transactions of the INDIAN CERAMIC SOCIETY Vol. 57 1998
Synthesis of Sub-Micron Alumina
in a Thermal Plasma Jet
P. v. ANANTHAPADMANABHAN, K. P. SREEKUMAR,
N. VENKATRAlvlANI, P. K. SINHA. AND S. C. MISHRA
Pages : 69-72
DOI : 10.1080/0371750X.1998.10804834
Abstract
Ultrafine aluminium oxide powder has been synthesized in a
thermal plasma reactor by oxidation of aluminium metal
powder. The reacto1· consists of a de plasma torch mounted
on to a reaction chnmber made of stainless steel with provision
for injecting any reactive gas into the plasma jet. A
mixture of lllgon and nih·ogen is used as the plasma gas and
aluminium metal powder is fed into the plasma using argon
as the caiTier gas. The metal particles are vaporized in the
plasma sti·cam and the vapours of aluminium metal are oxidized
to aluminium oxide by compressed air injected downstream
in the reactor. The synthesized powder has been
chnncterized by X-1·ay diffraction, which showed that it
consisted of y-alumina. Scanning electron microscopy of the
synthesized pa1·ticles showed agglomerates of fine particles.
