Abstract: For the purpose of revealing the thermodynamic impact of mechanical activation on the carbothermic reduction of iron oxides, the constituent of stored energy in mechanically activated iron oxides was analyzed, and a functional link between stored energy and carbothermic reduction thermodynamics was founded.The research result showed that the forms of stored energy responsible for remarkably impacting the reduction thermodynamics are dislocation Gibbs free energy and amorphism Gibbs free energy.Carbothermic reduction temperature decreases with the increase of the stored energy for iron oxides (the decrease is not remarkable for the carbothermic reduction of Fe₂O₃).For the reduction of Fe₃O₄, the temperature for the transition of 1/4Fe₃O₄+CO=3/4Fe+CO₂ into Fe₃O₄+CO=3FeO+CO₂decreases linearly with the increase of stored energy for Fe₃O₄.

Key words: Iron oxide, Mechanical activation, Stored energy, Carbothermic reduction, Thermodynamics