Interaction of rare-earth fluorides with metals in a molten sodium fluoride-zirconium fluoride mixture

摘要

The paper presents the results of investigations of the interaction of rare-earth fluorides with metallic sodium and zirconium in a molten sodium fluoride–zirconium fluoride mixture. The investigations have been carried out by differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray phase analysis (XPA), IR spectroscopy, and chemical analysis. It has been shown that metallic sodium and zirconium reduce rare-earth fluoride in the temperature range were the constituents of reaction mixture are in solid phase to form compounds of zirconium in lower oxidation states and rare-earth metals. The dependence of the temperature at the commencement of exchange reactions on the chemical nature of rareearth halide has been established: increase in the melting point of rare-earth fluoride leads to a rise of initial interaction temperature. The degree of reduction of rare-earth fluorides by reducing metals depends on the ratio of the constituents of the original reaction mixture.