HIGH-TEMPERATURE DECOMPOSITION OF KTIOPO4

It has been shown that potassium titanyl phosphate, KTiOPO4, decomposes at elevated temperatures with the evolution of gaseous phosphorus and potassium oxides and formation of solid titanium dioxide. Microscopic investigation and kinetic analysis reveal that the decomposition develops on the surface of KTP microcrystals. A fit of the kinetic curves in the deceleratory period to the Ginstling-Brounshtein equation has shown that the high-temperature decomposition of KTP is limited by diffusion at the reaction interface. The apparent activation energy of the decomposition was determined to be equal to 2.3 +/- 0.2 eV.