Reaction pathway in the MoO3+Mg+C reactive mixtures

Abstract Fundamental aspects of a novel combinational approach to reduce molybdenum trioxide by magnesium and carbon were studied. Temperature profile analysis, DTA/TG, XRD, SEM/EDS methods were applied to investigate the mechanism of the reduction reaction. It was shown that in the early stages of process carbon reduces the MoO 3 to MoO 2 . Highly exothermic magnesium reduction of MoO 2 starts at 700 °C and nucleation of Mo particles took place in liquid magnesium. It was shown that the last transformation in this reacting system, MoO 2  + C, starts at 800-900 °C. Depending on the reaction conditions, e.g. temperature, reduction of MoO 2 may yield either molybdenum or molybdenum carbide, with enhanced microstructure .