Study on the Formation Mechanism and Sinterability of La1-x SrxCoO3-d (x = 0.1 - 0.3) Prepared by Mechanical Activation

In this work it was studying evolution of the reactions that occur at the formation of La1-xSrxCoO3-� from mixtures of La2O3, Co3O4 and SrCoO3, prepared by mechanical activation. It was found that distributions of the particles sizes after mechanical activation are unimodal and narrow. Thermal analysis shows that the reactions that occur under the temperature of 1000oC are dissociation reactions of the raw materials or of intermediate compounds formed in the process of mechanical activation. The first compound found, starting from 1000oC was LaCoO3, whereas Co3O4 and CoO were observed as secondary phases. By measuring the apparent density of the thermally treated samples, a good tendency to sintering was noticed. SEM images and EDX analyses allowed to highlight the high sinterability of the samples.