Effect of Urea Excess on the Properties of the MgAl2O4 Obtained by Microwave-Assisted Combustion

In this paper, magnesium aluminate spinels were prepared by microwave-assisted combustion, using urea as fuel. In order to evaluate the effect of the urea excess used in the synthesis, its mass was added in a range of 1.0 to 2.5 times the stoichiometric amount required. The materials produced were characterized by TGA, FTIR, XRF, XRD, BET, SEM and TEM. The results demonstrated that magnesium aluminate spinel was formed in all solids, but the crystallinity degree and the specific surface area increased according to the amount of urea that was used in the synthesis. The use of excess fuel in the preparation was therefore advantageous, since it eliminated the need of the calcination step, at high temperatures, in order to stabilize the spinel phase and improve the crystallinity of the solid. The heat generated in the combustion process was sufficient to develop the formation of a nanocrystalline structure and produce high purity materials, with a save of 99.4% in energy.