THE MISSING TERM IN EFFECTIVE PAIR POTENTIALS

on carbon. These particles can interact with the active sites of the carbon to form a species a t the metal-carbon interface which is stable against high-temperature reduction. This interaction may occur via oxygen atoms bonding with both the carbon surface and iron atoms contacting the carbon. This oxygen could be provided by dissociation of the C O ligands during decomposition. The remainder of the surface Fe can exist in either a reduced or carburized state, but the small size of these particles results in either case in a superparamagnetically collapsed Mossbauer spectrum. For carbons with fewer active sites, more of the particles are unbound, and these particles sinter and carburize in a manner more similar to that of Fe particles supported on graphite.