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Environmentally safe fluoride cycle in tungsten technology. Substantiation of the production cycle with fluorine and hydrogen recycle

  • Metallurgy of Rare and Noble Metals
  • Published:
Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

A fluoride cycle in tungsten technology is based on three processes: (i) electrochemical decomposition of HF in the KHF2 + HF melt at 80–100°C with the separate evolution of gaseous fluorine and hydrogen; (ii) fluorination of the tungsten powder with evoluated fluorine at 300–350°C with the condensation of formed WF6 in a liquid form at t = 2.5–3.0°C, and (iii) reduction of gaseous WF6 with evoluated hydrogen at t = 580–600°C with the condensation of formed HF at +1°C and its use for the fluorine and hydrogen production, thereby ensuring their recycling in the cycle. The optimization of mentioned processes resulted in hardware-process implementations providing the formation of a large-scale plane and cylindrical billets in the industrial scale for deformation, as well as pipes, crucibles, and other products of various sizes made of tungsten with productivity of one process line of ~4.3 kg/h (>34 t/yr) with the fulfillment of environmental requirements. In contrast with the methods of powder metallurgy, the described technology ensures the formation of dense half-finished products and products made of pure tungsten with finer grain structures and almost unlimited sizes. Herewith, the specific power consumption for 1 kg of production lowers by a factor of 2.0–2.5. To increase the production efficiency, the simultaneous operation of four process lines in an automated mode is recommended.

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  1. Scientific-and-Technical Association “Powder Metallurgy”, Moscow, 105005, Russia

    Yu. M. Korolev

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Original Russian Text © Yu.M. Korolev, 2016, published in Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Tsvetnaya Metallurgiya, 2016, No. 6, pp. 29–41.

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Korolev, Y.M. Environmentally safe fluoride cycle in tungsten technology. Substantiation of the production cycle with fluorine and hydrogen recycle. Russ. J. Non-ferrous Metals 58, 44–54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1067821217010072

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