Compacting and densification of TiO2 nanoparticles

This work investigated the compacting and densification behaviour of TiO2 nanoparticles prepared by the simple non-aqueous sol-gel process. The synthesized nanopowder has anatase TiO2 structure with the average crystallite size of 10 nm and agglomerated particles. The compressibility curve shows two well-defined linear parts that intersect at ~380MPa which is a measure of agglomerate compressive strength. The densification process was investigated by the dilatometric analysis using non-isothermal experiments. The apparent activation energy for the densification was calculated (88-102 kJ/mol). Grain rearrangement by grain boundary sliding was proposed as the dominant shrinkage mechanism.