Ball milling-induced reduction of MoS2 with Al

The ball milling-induced reduction of MoS2 by Al has been investigated. Although this is a highly exothermic reaction that, based on its thermodynamic properties, should progress as a self-sustaining process, ignition could not be achieved by ball milling. In order to identify the reason, XRD, particle size distribution, SEM, and DTA measurements were carried out on a series of samples milled for different durations. It was found that the largest composite agglomerates broke up due to the presence of a fine dispersion of MoS2 particles. SEM also revealed that the grains are packed rather loosely within the agglomerates. These results indicate that a self-sustaining process can take place only if large and well-compacted composite particles are present.