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By Shunsuke Yagi

A surface alloying technique was investigated using alternating pulsed electrolysis in an aqueous solution containing a single metal component for the formation of an Fe-Cr layer on an iron substrate. In the process, the iron substrate was dissolved during each anodic polarization of the pulsed electrolysis, providing iron ions in the vicinity of the substrate, while the Fe-Cr alloy was electrodeposited during subsequent cathodic polarizations. A bright, flat, and crack-free Fe-Cr layer with a composition gradient was obtained using a solution containing a trivalent chromium component and a complex forming agent together with some supporting or buffering salts.

Jan 1, 2006

By Wade L. Karlsen

"Revision surgery to replace joints in the human body requires materials that are strong, long-lasting, and biocompatible. Metallic implants made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys are already popular because of their proven corrosion and wear resistance properties, but there is an on-going effort to economically improve their performance. Alloying with inert nitrogen can enhance the mechanical properties of the alloy, enhance its corrosion resistance, and elevate the temperature at which the metallic implants can be thermally treated, without increasing the threat to the human body. The current work has produced a high-nitrogen Co-Cr-Mo alloy through HIP consolidation of metal powders that have undergone nitriding in a mechanically fluidized bed. The already fine microstructure of the powders combined with the increased nitrogen content resulted in significant property gains in the consolidated materials.IntroductionMetallic implants made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys are already popular because of their proven corrosion and wear resistance properties, but there is an ongoing effort to improve their performance. Research on a Stellite 21 cobalt-chromiummolybdenum alloy has shown that nitrogen alloying can be desirable from several standpoints [l]. Firstly, it has indicated that nitrogen can enhance the mechanical properties of the alloy, which could allow more demanding implant designs. The same work also demonstrated that nitrogen can elevate the temperature at which the metallic implants can be thermally treated, which is desirable in situations in which surface textures are to be sintered to the implant to enhance its fixation properties. Finally, that research work discovered that, not only does nitrogen not harm the corrosion resistance of the cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloys, but it may in fact enhance it. Combining this with the fact that small amounts of nitrogen are not considered a threat to the human body, makes nitrogen alloying an attractive alternative for enhancing the properties of Co-Cr-Mo."

Jan 1, 2000

By M. Waladan

The top submerged lancing Sirosmelt system has been developed through laborator.y scale testwork and pilot plant trials for recovery of zinc from ISF slag. The effects of the process variables of gas injection rate, method of coal feeding, and temperature on zinc fuming rates were studied in the laboratory. It was found that the rate of zinc elimination was dependent on all of these variabl.es. The rate of zinc removal from slag was independent of zinc content of slag down to approximately 1.5% Zn, below which the rate was proportional to zinc content in slag. Pilot plant trials were carried out to evaluate a proposed process and results followed predictions from the laboratory scale tests. A comparison of the proposed process with conventional slag fuming operations is made and it is shown that the process has a number of advantages which have a significant impact on the economics of zinc slag fuming.

Jan 1, 1990

By B. Erik Ydstie, Tor Lindstad, Vianey Garcia-Osorio

"As a result of the high temperatures present in a Carbothermic Aluminum Process the content of aluminum and aluminum sub-oxide in the gases leaving this process is high. These gases as well as energy must be recovered. In a Vapor Recovery Unit were the aluminum compounds react in a series of Heterogeneous Non-catalytic Reactions forming solid, liquid and gas products. The different product phases depend on the temperature present in the system. In this work we present dynamic model of the Vapor Recovery Unit of a conceptual Carbothermic Aluminum Process. Because of the complexity of the system several models are developed and coupled to capture the essential physics of the multiphase reaction problem. A Shrinking Core Model describes the reaction mechanisms. Then material and energy balances are coupled with the thermodynamics properties from the FACT database of thermodynamic properties, resulting in a system of nonlinear Partial Differential Equations. In the paper we describe the model development and governing equations for the reaction mechanisms and fluid flow. Finally we review the numerical schemes created for the solution of the model system. The model can be used for control and design purposes.IntroductionThe Carbothennic Processes for producing Aluminum can be divided into two groups (Motzfeldt et al. (1989)) In the first approach pure alumina is produced and reduced to pure aluminum. In the second approach an alloy (e.g. aluminum and silicon) is made and then aluminum is produced from the alloy. The history of both processes has been described by Ginsberg et al. (1965). At least three aluminum producers began largescale testing of this process in the 60's Alcan, Pechey-Ugine and Reynolds. Alcoa did some smaller scale experiments.Alcoa was one of the first companies to produce aluminum by Carbothennic Reduction (Foster et al. (1956)) and US Patent 2,829,961 April 8, 1958. In this process a carbon containing molten aluminum phase was a floated on top of an oxy-carbide melt. During the cooling the dissolved carbon deposited as aluminum carbide. The carbide was then separated from the molten aluminum by a fluxing agent. This process was successful but economic unfeasible."

Jan 1, 2001

By L. Xia

Sodium silicate(s), also known as “water glass”, are one of the oldest and most widely used industrial chemicals. Its first use in Canadian operations can be traced back to around 1925, which coincided with early use of xanthates in mineral flotation. Silicate functions as a sulphide and non-sulphide gangue mineral dispersant, depressant and modifying reagent in grinding and flotation operations. It is believed that soluble sodium silicate promotes selectivity of value added sulphides against gangue minerals, resulting in both grade and recovery improvement. This paper seeks to link improved grade/recovery to the interaction characteristics of minerals and the sodium silicate. A systematic study was performed with individual mineral species, an artificially designed model ore and the feed ore from a copper flotation operation. The function of sodium silicate was evaluated in the context of colloidal chemistry and linked to mineral surface chemistry. Measurement of pulp rheology and mineral zeta potential identified that sodium silicate works as a dispersant. The dispersion is accomplished by increasing a mineral’s net surface charge, resulting in a change in slurry viscosity. Bench scale laboratory flotation tests suggest that better dispersion leads to a diminished interaction of chalcopyrite with gangue. The improved Cu grade and recovery then are likely in response to an increased accessibility to collector along with a linked increase in particle bubble attachment resulting in better separation efficiency. ToF-SIMS surface chemical analysis of the flotation samples found a higher proportion of sodium silicate on minerals from the flotation tailings relative to the concentrates. Moreover, attachment of sodium silicate appears to be mineral specific; the data indicates that sodium silicate favours the surface of gangue phases over the value sulphides.

By Hans Prem

There has been a dramatic development in the field of magnetic materials in the last 10 to 15 years. Capacity improvement of electronic components especially required an increased production of "rare earth magnets", e.g. samarium-cobalt (SmCo) magnets and neodymium-iron-boron (Nd-Fe-B) magnets. We participated in this development and learned how to construct systems for the dry processing of these magnet materials. In the meantime we have supplied a large number of these systems for coarse and fine milling. Processing is effected in a protective atmosphere in order to avoid oxidation and thus deterioration of the magnet materials.

Jan 1, 1992

By D. H. Rubisov

The neural networks modelling approach is one of the most elegant black-box type methods to model industrial processes. In this paper, this approach is applied to model the performance of the CEZ zinc electrowinning plant. The model that was built was found to exhibit an excellent predictive ability for voltage and current density. The model was also used to investigate the sensitivity of the process to various key variables such as temperature, current density, zinc and sulphuric acid concentration, etc. Optimal regimes for zinc production were identified from the power consumption standpoint.

Jan 1, 1996

By Gervais Soucy, François Quesnel, Pierre Hovington, Wen Zhu, Karim Zaghib, Jocelyn Veilleux

The properties of lithium titanates anodes in Li-ion batteries are highly dependent on their secondary constituents. While their main phase is usually constituted of Li4Ti5O12, significant quantity of lithium titanates compounds of various stoichiometry are often present, due to either the processing, usage or aging of the material. These may go underreported, as many of these spectrums overlap or display low signal in X-ray diffraction (XRD). Samples of nanosized lithium titanates synthetized by inductive plasma were characterized by XRD and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as they provide a regular yet typical crystallite size and shape including multiple phases. A Rietveld refinement was developed to extract the composition of these samples. Mass balance through further annealing and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) enthalpy measurements from phase transformations were also used as identification and validation techniques.

Jan 1, 2015

By Jilai Xue, Jun Zhu, Yongqiang Liu

"Up-grading silicon feedstock by removing B and metal impurities can improve process efficiency and lower production cost in metallurgical processing for solar cells production. Hydrometallurgical study has been carried out in laboratory through alternative treatments of the metallurgical grade (MG) silicon (-200 mesh) by using hydrogen peroxide, hydrofluoric acid (4 mol/L) and NH4Cl-NH4 F (30:5) solution. The experiments were usually performed under mechanical agitation at 70 ? for 5 h. ICP-AES analysis showed that B content in MG silicon after the hydrometallurgical treatment has reduced by 92.4 %, and Fe, Al, and Ca contents by 98.8 %, 98.0 % and 81 %, respectively. Kinetics of these processes was also studied for better understanding of the effects of silicon powder size, acid concentration, leaching and oxidizing time on the processing chemistry.IntroductionAs one of the most clean and promising new energy, solar energy is used more and more in many countries all over the world, especially in United States, Japan and European Union. Most of industrialized states have made their national photovoltaic plans, which have stimulated further increase in use of solar energy. Photovoltaic Industry is at a high growth rate about 30 % [1-2]. For silicon solar cells to remain the mainstay for the photovoltaic industry it is necessary to develop a low-cost solar grade silicon feedstock [3]. At the same time, the availability of the currently M-G silicon from the semiconductor industries becomes limited [4]. With the advantages of low cost and low energy consumption, metallurgical routes to product solar–grade silicon get more attention [5]. These routes mainly include pickling, slagging, vacuum processing and directional solidification, etc [6]. Among them the most important processing step is the directional solidification, but it still can not satisfy the industrial demand for removing B. Removing B from Si remains as one of the most difficult and important processes in making M-G silicon [7]."

Jan 1, 2012

By Ian M. Ritchie

Cementation or metal displacement reactions such as Cu2+ + Fe Cu + Fe2+ are among the oldest known hydrometallurgical reactions. They are still used in the recovery of some metals and in the purification of process liquors and waste water streams. However, they are often more complex than the stoichiometric reaction would suggest because they involve the simultaneous deposition of one metal onto a second which is dissolving. For example, sometimes a cementation will not take place, even though it is thermodynamically favoured. On other occasions, a cementation reaction will start but come to a halt as the depositing metal blankets the reacting surface. On yet other occasions, side reactions, catalyzed by the deposit, can be important. In this paper, the electrochemical basis of cementation reactions is described. The conditions for each of the complications encountered in these reactions are described and illustrated by examples drawn from a number of hydrometallurgical processes. The cementation reaction between activated carbon and gold thiosulfate is also briefly described, this reaction being unusual in that no dissolution of the carbon occurs.

Jan 1, 2003

By G. G. Richards

"The slag fuming process has operated for close to 70 years to recover zinc from lead blast furnace slag. The process is normally carried out through the batch treatment of slag by submerged injection of coal and air. Within the bath the coal acts as both a reductant, to reduce Zno to zinc vapour, and a fuel, to maintain bath temperature during the endothermic reduction process. The partition of coal between the slag, combustion and bypass is dependent on factors such as bath depth and injection pressure. The option of continuous fuming has been pursued at the D. Blagoev smelter in Bulgaria using heavy fuel oil as reductant/fuel. There has, however, been little attempt at commercial continuous fuming with coal. This paper presents an analysis of a coal-based continuous slag fuming furnace. The data on the Plovdiv fumer is used as a reference point. Critical design criteria for continuous fuming include the slag feed rate, degree of coal combustion and furnace size. Mathematical modelling analysis suggests that continuous fuming with coal can achieve respectable zinc/coal ratios.IntroductionThe slag fuming process was developed in the early part of this century to recover zinc from non-ferrous smelting slags [1-3]. The majority of installed furnaces were put in place to fume zinc from lead blast furnace slag on a batch basis. In most cases coal is used to effect reduction of zinc oxide, but one furnace uses natural gas [4] and, in a curious twist, a continuous fumer was developed based on fuel oil [5].Given the general nature of blast furnace lead smelting, it is not surprising that slag fuming has remained a batch process, in spite of the advantages that could be gained by moving to continuous fuming. Blast furnaces are usually operated as relatively independent units, and tapping has traditionally been done into ladles. The presence of a crane aisle makes direct coupling of the blast furnace to a slag fumer difficult, especially in a retrofit situation. Furthermore, steady-state blast furnace operation is not easy to achieve. The size of these furnaces and the nature of their feed make it difficult to guarantee constant operation."

Jan 1, 1996

By Hector M. Henao

To provide thermodynamic data for converting nickel matte to liquid nickel at high temperature, an experimental study was conducted on the phase equilibrium between the Ni-S alloy and the FeOX-SiO2, FeOx-CaO, and CaO-A12O3 base slag in a magnesia crucible and the CaO-Al2O3-MgO slag in an alumina crucible. All experiments were carried out at 1773 K under controlled pso2 of 0.1 atm and po2 in a range between 5x10- and 10-5 atm by using CO-CO2-SO2 gas mixtures. The dissolution of nickel in the slag was found to be minimum for the CaO-Al203¬-MgO slag with a molar ratio of NCaO/NA1203=1.7. The solubility of nickel in this slag at p02 of 6x10 atm (just before the precipitation of solid NiO) was 4 mass%. This result suggests that a CaO-A12O3 base slag could be used in converting Ni-S melt to nickel while minimizing nickel losses to the slag.

Jan 1, 2002

By J. R. Sarazin

Density driven convection during solidification has been recognized for some time to result in macrosegregation particularly when lower density alloying elements are rejected into the interdendritic liquid. The resulting segregates are commonly referred to as channels, freckles or A-segregates. Buoyancy driven convection leading to channel formation has been examined in three model systems possessing somewhat different materials parameters. They are the Pb-Sn eutectic system, the transparent aqueous-salt NH C1-H 0 4 2 eutectic system and the transparent organic succinonitrile-ethanol monotectic system. Convection in these systems is controlled by a balance of buoyant and viscous forces, which are strong functions of composition and temperature. Composition, temperature and flow velocity were measured and elimination of channels through heavier ternary additions is discussed.

Jan 1, 1991

By M. Kobashi, T. Choh, N. Kanetake

"A new processing route, which enables the cost-effective and energy- saving fabrication of metal matrix composites, have been proposed. The pressureless infiltration of the reactive powder blend with molten aluminum was investigated in this work. The molten aluminum infiltrated into the [Ti + C] powder blend spontaneously, whereas the spontaneous infiltration into the TIC powder phase did not occur under the same experimental condition. The processing time was shortened and· the processing temperature was .lowered by adding the aluminum powder in the [Ti + C] powder. The differential thermal analysis revealed that the aluminum powder in the powder blend melted at 933K and then ignited the reaction between titanium and ·carbon. However there was an .optimum additional amount of aluminum in the powder blend. The TiC formed in situ had three-dimensionally continuous morphologyIntroductionThe squeeze casting process has been used as one of the processing routes for aluminum matrix composites. [1, 2]. Non-reactive metal-ceramic systems have been, generally, used in this technique in order to prevent the degradation of the ceramic phase. Materials obtained by this process basically consist of a continuous metal matrix and discontinuously dispersed ceramic particles. Reactive systems have begun to be introduced into the infiltration process· recently [3A]. Since the ceramics are synthesized in-situ, this process can provide a continuous ceramic matrix [5]. This is one of the outstanding features of this technique in that a bulk ceramic-can be synthesized at relatively lower temperatures in a short time. Another advantage is that the highly reactive combination of a ceramic with a molten metal is in many cases wettable [6], which enables a spontaneous infiltration."

Jan 1, 2000

By Stefan Mutl

By the term sorting one understands the separation of a material mixture into two or several products according to different material characteristics in the preparation technology. The oldest sorting procedure, the handpicking, is less and less used to separate different material mixtures because of the considerable personnel expenditure and the strict hygienic regulations at the workplaces in Europe. In general, the manual assortment is able to solve separation tasks, which could not be solved by machines so far. The picking is one of the most selective processing methods. However, the progress in the computer and sensor engineering today makes the creation of automatic picking devices possible, whose efficiency goes far beyond the possibilities of handpicking. Therefore in the future automatic picking will not only be applied to already common applications like the waste glass assortment by colour, but also to the assortment of complex composed material mixtures e.g. old shreddered cars. Thus, the automatic picking, supported by high performance computer systems and new sensor technology, gains more and more significance within many applications of waste processing. However, in order to apply automatic sorting procedures for different material streams within recycling processes, a substantial research and development need still is existing. The desire of the users is to sort more extensively in order to achieve products with bigger material varieties, In addition, the requirement of the accuracy of recognizing and sorting out of single grains rises, This lecture illustrates the procedure of the hand picking before it was employed in waste processing. Thus, a renaissance of a long forgotten method is happening in terms of today's state of the art procedure "automatic picking". Possible technologies, fields of application and future potentials of this technology are pointed out.

Jan 1, 2003

By Ehsan Khajeh

In this study, the permeabilities of Al-15.5wt%Cu and Al-19.5wt%Cu have been determined by solving the full Navier-Stokes equations on 3D geometries of interdendritic channels obtained by X-ray microtomography (XMT). The samples for XMT were sectioned from different positions in directionally solidified cylinders in order to obtain a variety of microstructures for each composition. The flow has been solved using a 2nd-order accurate Finite Volume Method (FVM) approach. The effect of employing uniform or unstructured mesh on the calculated permeability has been studied. The Marching-cube triangulation method was necessary to extract accurate surfaces for unstructured volume meshing. Calculated values of permeability for this range of solid fractions show partial agreement with previous experiments. Observed deviations are attributed to the difficulties of experimental permeability measurements.

Jan 1, 2009

By Tuomas Hirsi

The world’s first large scale modular solvent extraction plants have been delivered by Outotec. The first of these is now in operation and has proven that the VSF®X technology can deliver the excellent performance of the Outotec VSF® solvent extraction process. Modular delivery allows site work to be minimized and the manufacturing done in a controlled environment, allowing for serial production manufacturing benefits. Container based delivery was found to be a highly efficient way of utilizing the standardized transportation methods on a global scale. Site work with modular units was found to be efficient and highly predictable. In this paper, we present the first successful Outotec VSF®X deliveries and discuss the benefits of the modular delivery and design compared to the standard solvent extraction installation’s delivery. The process performance of the VSF®X is also discussed with experiences from the first industrial reference presented.

By Kenneth N. Han

Ammonia has been found to be an effective leaching reagent for gold, silver and platinum group metals in the presence of appropriate oxidants. Electrochemical and kinetic aspects of the dissolution of elemental gold in ammoniacal solutions have been investigated. The cathodic reaction of aurous di-ammine on the gold cathode has been investigated first. From this investigation, the standard electro-potential of the cathodic reaction .and hence. the Gibbs free energy of formation of the aurous di-ammine were established. The solubility of gold in ammoniacal solutions was also examined in relation to ammonia concentration, temperature and concentration of various oxidants. The anodic reaction of the gold disk in ammonia? in the presence? of various oxidants including oxygen, ozon, hypochlorite, hydrogen peroxide, cupric and cobaltic ammine, and iodine was also examined and the results have been discussed. Excellent dissolution yielding of gold and many other metals, typically better than 95% recovery in 1'-2 'hours of leaching at a temperature ranging 80°C to 190°C has been observed. Test results of the dissolution of gold from elemental state as well as other sources including sulfidic ores and scrap are presented.

Jan 1, 1998

By Srinath Viswanathan, Adrian Sabau

"In general, the occurrence of microporosity during metal casting is due to the combined effects of solidification shrinkage and gas precipitation. The governing equations for fluid flow and hydrogen evolution indicate that porosity formation and fluid flow are strongly coupled. However, in most studies on microporosity, it is considered that the porosity formation does not influence the fluid flow in the mushy zone. In this study, a computational methodology is presented for the numerical simulation of interdendritic fluid flow and microporosity evolution. The solution algorithm presented includes a fully coupled, implicit treatment of microporosity and local pressure in the mushy zone. The effects of microporosity evolution due to the local pressure drop in the mushy zone, and pore expansion in casting regions where liquid feeding alone cannot compensate for the solidification shrinkage are also considered. It is shown that neglecting the effect of porosity formation on the pressure in the mushy zone yields higher pressure drops. By its growth, microporosity partially compensates for the solidification shrinkage, reducing the feeding demand. A reduced feeding demand requires less fluid flow to compensate for solidification shrinkage, and results in smaller pressure drops in the mushy zone. Therefore, in order to accurately describe casting defects, comprehensive models of fluid flow, heat transfer, and solidification must include the effect of microporosity as well.IntroductionIn the terminology commonly used by foundrymen, porosity is usually considered to be either ""hydrogen"" or ""shrinkage"" porosity. Hydrogen porosity is the term given to porosity that is generally rounded, isolated, and well distributed. Porosity that is interconnected or clustered, and of an irregular shape corresponding to the shape of the interdendritic region, is usually termed shrinkage. In general, the occurrence of microporosity in aluminum alloys is due to the combined effects of solidification shrinkage and gas precipitation [1]. Continuum models [1, 2- 7] have been used to predict the level of porosity in castings. A number of other studies have also attempted to understand the phenomena of porosity formation and pore growth [8-10] and pore morphology [11].The governing equations for fluid flow and hydrogen evolution indicate that porosity formation and fluid flow are strongly coupled. However, in most studies [4, 9, 10], it is considered that the porosity formation does not influence the fluid flow in the mushy zone. Kubo and Pehlke [3] presented a methodology for the prediction of microporosity distribution in shaped castings by considering the effects of both the hydrogen precipitation during solidification and the pressure drop in the mushy zone. In their approach, the local pressure and porosity were computed in an uncoupled manner based on a ""flux of interdendritic liquid"" criterion, i.e., either pressure or porosity was first computed using the other variable at the previous time step. Their approach has been used with little change in numerous studies [6, 12, 13]. Recently, Kuznetsov and Vafai [14] presented a fully coupled, one-dimensional model for the computation of pressure and porosity. They showed that neglecting the effect of porosity formation on the pressure in the mushy zone yields higher pressure drops and an over-prediction of final porosity. They also showed that the influence of porosity formation on the pressure is larger at lower pressures in the mushy zone."

Jan 1, 2001

By M. Shevchenko

Integrated experimental and modelling research program on the phase equilibria and development of thermodynamic databases of the lead and copper metallurgical gas/ slag-matte-metal-solids systems (PbO-“Cu2O”-FeO-Fe2O3- ZnO-CaO-SiO2) is being undertaken to support improvements in the pyrometallurgical smelting and recycling processes. This is the first systematic investigation of phase equilibria of slag systems in equilibrium with Pb metal, providing information for systems in which copper coexists in slag with lead or zinc as major components. The experimental studies involve high-temperature equilibration of synthetic samples, rapid quenching, and measurement of the compositions of equilibrium phases using electron probe X-ray microanalysis (EPMA). FactSage-based thermodynamic database development is integrated with experimental research. Initial thermodynamic assessments are used to identify priority compositions and conditions for experiments, which are planned to provide specific data to assist thermodynamic optimisation. Significant improvement in the accuracy of the phase equilibria description is achieved. Continuous database improvement and extension to include new elements are targeted. Example of industrial application is given.