Structural, thermal and vibrational characterization of mechanical alloyed In50Te50

Structural, chemical, thermal and vibrational studies of InTe produced by mechanical alloying were carried out using X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and Raman spectroscopy. The main crystalline phases formed after 2 h of milling were the tetragonal (TlSe-type) and high-pressure cubic (NaCl-type) InTe phases. Minority cubic In2O3 phase was also nucleated. Mean crystallite size and phase fraction variations with the increase of the milling time were obtained from Rietveld analyses. The distribution of the particle size (centered at about 39 nm) was obtained by images of transmission electron microscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements showed no evidence of nonreacted materials and Raman measurements showed peaks that can be associated with the InTe (TlSe-type) phase and/or the existence of molecular structures of Te (chains/rings). The structural stability of the nanocrystaline phases of the In50Te50 sample milled for 15 h was attested by systematical X-ray diffraction measurements performed up to one year after its production.