The Effect of Production Parameters on DC Thermal Plasma Nanomaterial Synthesis

Abstract

The practical use of Alumina in various fields of engineering has become more in demand due to its properties to withstand high temperature, resist corrosion, and possess good hardness and strength. The synthesis of alumina nanoparticles is done by DC Thermal Plasma method where aluminum powder is flowed through oxygen gas to pass through arc in plasma torch so that primary particles are combusted and cause evaporation and crystallization to form alumina nanoparticles in particular phases. The XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) observation results showed variations in aluminum powder flow rate of 4.72, 5.90, 7.08 and 8.26 l/min with a processing time of 10, 20, 30, 40s. The alumina nanoparticles formed different dominant phases of γ-alumina and δ-alumina phases with intensities above ≥75%. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) observations of the alumina nanoparticles was used to characterize the resulting particle diameter, morphology and structure. The powder flow rate variation of specific process times produced different agglomeration, mean size and structure of the resulting alumina nanomaterial.