Effect of MgO and NH4OH on Formation of 5Mg(OH)2·MgSO4·3H2O Whiskers

The Magnesium hydroxide sulfate hydrate whiskers (5Mg(OH)2.MgSO4.3H2O, abbreviated 513MHSH) have attracted much attention due to its practical applications as filler and reinforcement. However, it is difficult to produce high quality MHSH because plate-like Mg(OH)2 impurities were formed in high concentrations of OH- and interaction between Mg2+ and OH-. In this work, to reduce formation Mg(OH)2, molar ratio ofSuperscript text magnesium oxide (MgO) and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4.7H2O) were controlled. As a result, when low concentration of SO42-, MHSH whiskers co-existed with hexagonal plate Mg(OH)2. The molar ratio of MgSO4.7H2O/MgO was high, uniform MHSH whiskers were formed without Mg(OH)2. In addition, appropriate amount of NH4OH has affected formation of high quality MHSH. Their morphologies and structures were determined by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TGA)