Phase transformations of ilmenite ore during microwave treatment at a frequency of 2.45 GHz under the influence of sucrose

The present work is devoted to the influence of combined microwave heating at a frequency of 2.45 GHz on the oxidation process of Vietnamese ilmenite ore. In oxidation by this method, the heating rate is high for the first 0.5 h and decreases during subsequent treatment. In this case, in the whole volume of each ilmenite ore particle, equilibrium pseudobrookite and rutile phases form. It is shown that, under the influence of microwave irradiation, the growth rate of the pseudobrookite phase is higher than that of the rutile phase. To reduce iron contained in the obtained pseudobrookite-rutile mixture, sucrose was added to it. However, the X-ray diffraction analysis data indicate that iron is not reduced under the action of sucrose, and reverse transformation of pseudobrookite into ilmenite occurs.