Mechanochemical synthesis of MgTa2O6 ceramic

Abstract MgTa 2 O 6 powders were prepared by mechanochemical synthesis from MgO and Ta 2 O 5 in a planetary ball mill in air atmosphere using steel vial and steel balls. High-energy ball milling gave nearly single-phase MgTa 2 O 6 after 8 h of milling time. Annealing of high-energy milled powder at various temperatures (700–1200 °C) indicated that high-energy milling speed up the formation and crystallization of MgTa 2 O 6 from the amorphous mixture. The powder derived from 8 h of mechanical activation gave a particle size of around 28 nm. Although at low-annealing temperatures the grain size was almost the same as-milled powder, the grain size increased with annealing temperature reaching to around 1–2 μm after annealing at 1200 °C for 8 h.