Despite the large number of studies concerning alumina phase transitions, many contradictions about their origins and the influence of additives still remain. In the present work, alumina doped with Mn is used as a reference system to study the mechanisms by which phase transformations occur. The introduction of Mn ions decreases the temperature of the <FONT FACE=Symbol>gð®að</FONT> transition, which is observed around 1012 ºC with 10 mol% of Mn while at 1100 ºC for alumina synthesized by the Pechini's route. The presence of a critical particle size similar for both doped and undoped material and the formation of solid solution Mn with alumina indicate that the transition is dependent on energetic factors as well as on kinetic factors. A critical particle size controlled by the ratio between surface energy and bulk energy is required for transformation to occur, but grain growth, which highly depends on the additives, determines when the system will reach such critical value.
alumina; phase transition; additive; manganese
