Methods of determination of lead oxides

Abstract

Lead oxides have been produced and used for all kinds of applications over hundreds and thousands of years. There are many types of lead oxides but, nowadays, the most common oxides in industry are Lead Monoxide (PbO) and Red Lead (Pb3O4), which can be also called Minium. Lead Monoxide has two polymorphs, Massicot (α-PbO) and Litharge (β-PbO), which have different properties such as colour or conductivity and, as a result, different industrial applications. The determination of the distinct crystalline forms on Lead Monoxide is not simple. A specific method for the determination and quantification of lead monoxide is not stablished. The main part of this project has been searching a method for the measurement of these two modifications. Subsequently an analysis of the most suitable technique for the determination of the different lead monoxide modifications has been carried out. This project describes three different methods for the determination of lead monoxides: X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and X-Ray Absortion (XAS) and discusses if XRD is a suitable technique for the determination of lead monoxide polymorphs. Also a chemical characterization of metallic lead and lead dioxide is realized using classical analytical methods. Finally, a granulometric study of lead monoxides is accomplished by a grain size distribution analysis.