Mechanical Activation of Mn-O Oxides: Structural Phase Transitions, Magnetism and Oxygen Isotope Exchange

The mechanically activated oxides MnO2, Mn2O3, Mn3O4 and MnO were studied under ambient and non-ambient temperature conditions. Regimes of mechanical treatment were found that allowed one to preserve the single-phase state without an essential change of oxide chemical composition. New data about the temperatures and sequence of phase transitions in mechanically activated manganese oxides as well as about the kinetics of isotope exchange were obtained. Magnetic properties of the treated oxides were measured in the temperature range of 4-300К. It is shown that mechano-activation essentially influenced the temperature and field dependences of magnetization, temperatures of magnetic phase transitions and leads to the appearance of additional magnetic phases. New data on the rates of surface reactions during isotope exchange and oxygen self-diffusion coefficients are obtained.