The controlled reduction of copper tungstate in H2O/H2 mixtures

The controlled reductions of copper tungstate, copper tungstate plus blue tungsten oxide and CuO plus WO₃ have been studied at temperatures of 500, 600 and 700C using H₂/H₂O mixtures in a glass thermobalance. The copper-tungsten oxide composite powder products have been characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. The morphologies of the copper-tungsten oxide products have been related to the morphologies of copper-tungsten powders obtained by dry hydrogen reduction. It is shown that widely varying copper-tungsten oxide morphologies may be obtained as precursors for metal powder production by control of the H₂/H₂O ratio in the reducing gas mixture.