Preparation of enriched rare-earth metals by hydrofluorination and reduction

D. R. Brashear, L. A. Zevenbergen

    Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

    4 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Enriched rare-earth metals are employed in many areas of basic and applied research. Capabilities for preparing enriched rare-earth metals at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been limited in recent years to reduction-distillation of the oxides of Sm, Eu, and Yb, using La as a reductant. The capability for producing enriched Ce, Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, and Lu in gram quantities has recently been restored via hydrofluorination of the oxide followed by metallothermic reduction employing Ca as a reductant. Typical yields for gram-quantity conversion of rare-earth oxides have been demonstrated to be 90% or greater.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)23-29
    Number of pages7
    JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
    Volume438
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Dec 1 1999
    EventProceedings of the 1998 19th World Conference of the International Nuclear Target Development Society - Oak Ridge, TN, USA
    Duration: Oct 5 1998Oct 9 1998

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