Sintering Behavior of Lithium Meta Titanate Nanocrystallites

In this work, lithium meta titanate (Li2TiO3) nanocrystallites were synthesized by the hydrothermal method and subsequent heat treatment. The shrinkage of the powder compact was measured under constant heating rate in order to study the sintering behavior of the synthesized powders. The densi􀀘cation curves of the synthesized powders were also constructed via the dilatometry analysis and evaluated at several heating rates. Two separate methods, including analytical procedure and master curve sintering were employed to determine the activation energy of the initial sintering stage. Results showed that activation energy values obtained from these two distinct methods (229±14 and 230 kJ/mol, respectively) were consistent with each other. It was revealed that the dominant mechanism of densi􀀘cation on initial sintering of Li2TiO3 nanocrystallites is surface diffusion.