Influence of Dynamic Calcination on Crystallite Growth of Submicron Rare‐Earth Oxides

The crystallite growth of rare‐earth oxide powders with particle sizes of 10 to 30 Å obtained by the hydrolytic decomposition of alkoxides was investigated. These powders were compared with commercially available powders with average particle sizes from 1000 Å to 10 μm. Static and dynamic atmosphere tests were made, the latter by continuous tumbling during calcination. Dynamic calcination controlled crystallite growth effectively while maintaining uniform particle size. Typical arithmetic mean particle sizes were 250 Å for powders calcined at 800°C for 24 h with tumbling and ∼400 Å for powders calcined under identical conditions without tumbling. TGA, X‐ray diffraction, and emission spectrographic analyses were used to characterize the powders. Electron microscopy and BET surface area measurements demonstrated the importance of the dynamic calcination method in the growth of primary crystallites into larger particles during the presintering stage of the processing of these powders.