Production and characterization of Cobalt/Vanadium Boride composite powder by mechanochemical method and acid leaching

In this research, the production mechanism of VB-Co in situ nanocomposite powder from oxidized raw materials via mechanochemical method was studied. Regarding the adiabatic temperature of the chemical reaction, this reaction was occurred through self-progressive high-temperature synthesis or MSR. The mixed powder of raw materials (Co3O4, V2O5, B2O3 and Mg) were ground according to the stoichiometry reaction with the ratio (1:1:1:12) using a high-energy planetary ball mill in an argon atmosphere in different times where the weight ratio of powder to the bullet was 1:20. The produced composite powder was evaluated by the X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After grinding for 15 minutes, a burning occurred in the mill and regarding the X-ray diffraction, the phases Co-VB-MgO-VO2-Mg3­(BO3)2 were generated. Increasing the time of re-grinding and after burning for 30 minutes, the unwanted phase of Mg3­(BO3)2 was decomposed, the remaining vanadium oxide restored and the final reaction fully occurred. Regarding the results of XRD and the X-ray map analyses, MgO, which was the by-product of this reaction, was removed completely from the produced powder by hydrochloric acid at a concentration of 9. As the TEM image shows the composite powder after the pickling process, the size of particles is around 20- 30 nm.