The thermal behavior of mechanically activated galena by thermogravimetry analysis

The thermal decompositions of mechanically activated and nonactivated galenas were studied by thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) at the heating rate of 10 K min⁻¹ in argon. Results indicate that the initial temperature of thermal decomposition (abbreviated as T _di) in the TGA curves for different galenas decreases gradually with increased grinding time. The specific granulometric surface area (S _G), the structural disorder, and the content of elemental sulfur of mechanically activated galenas were analyzed by an X-ray diffraction (XRD) laser particle-size analyzer, XRD analysis, and the gravimetric method, respectively, which shows that the specific granulometric surface area of mechanically activated galenas remains almost constant after a certain grinding time, but the lattice distortions (ε) rise, the crystallite sizes (D) decrease, and the elemental sulfur contents of mechanically activated galenas increase with increased grinding time. The results imply that the decrease of the initial temperature of thermal decomposition in the TGA curves for mechanically activated galenas is mainly caused by the increase of lattice distortions, and the formation of new dangling bonds resulted from the production of elemental sulfur of mechanically activated galenas with increased grinding time. Finally, the differences in the thermal-decomposition reactivity between nonactivated and mechanically activated galenas were also discussed.