Pyrolysis of synthetic copper telluride in an inert atmosphere

The paper presents the study results of the thermal behavior of synthetic copper telluride in an inert atmosphere at pressures of 92 and 0.07 kPa under isothermal and non-isothermal vacuum-thermal conditions. The thermal analysis results showed that the synthesized copper telluride undergoes polymorphic transformations at 185.7, 259, 318, 350, 470, and 834.5 °C. These transformations were established by early studies and are characteristic of copper tellurides of stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric compositions. It was found that the reduction of the pressure in the system slightly increases the final value of mass loss of the synthetic sample. The X-ray phase analysis results of the residues obtained at constant and increasing temperatures at a pressure of 0.07 kPa showed the absence of the formation of new phases relative to the initial composition. A change in the quantitative ratio of the available phases was found in the direction of an increase in the amount of Cu0.656Te0.344 relative to the initial composition with an increase in the process temperature.