Reactive ball milling to produce nanocrystalline ZnO

Ball milling of zinc powders in oxygen atmosphere leads to nanocrystalline ZnO. The average grain size has a value of 9 nm. The zinc oxidation proceeds gradually. It is compared with the combustion oxidation reactions of metals (Zr, Ti, Fe and Sn) reported previously. We propose a new parameter Delta H/C-p(metal) instead of simplified adiabatic temperature to judge if the mechanochemical oxidation of a particular metal happens via gradual or combustion reaction. Crown Copyright (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.