Preparation of high purity vanadium
The paper reviews the various reduction and refining methods that have been used to prepare vanadium metal. Earlier work on metallothermic and carbothermic reduction processes is discussed. Recent work on improving the scaling up the aluminothermic reduction process is described in detail. Iron and silicon are first removed from commercial V/sub 2/O/sub 5/ by an ion exchange separation technique and the purified oxide is then exothermically reduced with aluminum metal. The resulting V-Al ingot is heated in a vacuum to 1700/sup 0/C to remove the aluminum and dissolved oxygen, and the sponge is then electron-beam melted to remove residual volatile impurities to yield vanadium metal of 99.98% purity. Precautions taken during each processing stage to minimize carbon, nitrogen and oxygen contamination are described. Metal containing < 50 ppmw each of C, N and O, < 20 ppmw Si, and < 10 ppmw of Fe and Al has been prepared in kilogram quantities by this method. The hardness of the beam melted is 60 to 70 DPH. Experiments designed to scale up the reduction process and to increase the efficiency of the separation and melting steps are described. Various refining techniques that have been applied to the preparation of high purity vanadium are described and comparisons made between the quality of metal obtained by each.
- Research Organization:
- Ames Lab., IA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-82
- OSTI ID:
- 6677282
- Report Number(s):
- IS-M-305; CONF-810203-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
360101* -- Metals & Alloys-- Preparation & Fabrication
ALUMINIUM
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DOCUMENT TYPES
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON BEAM MELTING
ELEMENTS
HARDNESS
ION EXCHANGE
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
MELTING
METALS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROCESSING
PURIFICATION
REDUCTION
REFINING
REVIEWS
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
VANADIUM