Study of the sintering of nanosized titania agglomerates in flames using in situ light scattering measurements

A premixed flame aerosol reactor was used to produce titania particles by oxidation of titanium isopropoxide vapor. The growth, aggregation of particles, and the agglomerate structure were determined as a function of height in the flame using in situ light scattering and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements. A methodology to determine the sintering characteristic time using light scattering data was established. The light scattering data provided the evolution of the fractal dimension which was then related to the normalized surface area change using a computer simulation. The sintering equation was redeveloped in terms of the normalized surface area, thus not having to account for coagulation effects. Experimental results indicate that isolated titania particles were observed at the high temperatures due to fast sintering. An agglomerate was obtained at downstream locations with an associated change in fractal dimension due to sintering. (C) 1997 American Association for Aerosol Research.