Synthesis and characterization of high purity Fe3O4 and α - Fe2O3 from local iron sand

Abstract

The synthesis and characterization of high purity of Fe3O4 and α-Fe2O3 from iron sand has been carried out. Iron sand samples retrieved from Banten, Indonesia. The iron sand powder was milled for 10 hours at room temperature by using high energy milling (HEM) and then was separated according to its type using magnetic separator. The iron sand powders are dissolved in acid chloride solution so that is formed a solution of iron chloride, and this solution is sprinkled with sodium hydroxide to obtain fine powders. The fine powders which formed were washed again with de-ionized water and sintered in the electric chamber furnace at 750 °C in the air at atmosphere pressure for 5 hours. The elemental analysis results using neutron activation analysis (NAA) is obtained that the fine powders contain the dominant of iron (Fe). The refinement results of X-ray diffraction pattern shows that the fine powders have a single phase of Fe3O4, and then after sintering changed to α-Fe2O3 single phase. The microstructure analysis showed that the particle of Fe3O4 and α-Fe2O3 shaped respectively like spherical and polygonal with the similarly particle sizes and homogeneously on the surface of the samples. We concluded that this study has successfully performed the process of purifying iron sand to obtain fine powders of Fe3O4 and α-Fe2O3 with high purity. The first section in your paper.