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By L. Y. Zhang

The current status of metal hydride alloys for NiMH batteries was systematically reviewed. Extensive application-oriented research and development has successfully made the NiMH battery an important part, with growing potential, among rechargeable batteries. The rare earth based metal hydrides (AB5) have been considered the best alloy material for use in the negative electrode in NiMH batteries. However, being in demand for high performance electronic markets, the still young NiMH industry is facing serious technical challenges in developing better products. Among all the efforts to respond to the challenges, advanced AF3, alloys are in great demand: the capacity enhancement race requires new or improved alloys possessing higher volumetric capacity; price competition mandates MH materials with low cost; high performance under severe service environments calls for alloys with high corrosion resistance when subjected to electrochemical cycling; and finally, high power service requires the negative electrode to deliver current at high rates.

Jan 1, 1997

By Xinzhong Deng, Naixiang Feng, Kejia Liu, Jianping Peng, Yaowu Wang, Yi Zhang, Yuezhong Di

Low-carbon Ti2O3 was prepared by carbonthermal reduction of the mixture of titanium dioxide and activated carbon at vacuum condition. The kinetics and phase evolution of Ti2O3 formation process were investigated through X-ray diffraction and gravimetric analysis. The only intermediate phase detected is Ti3O5. The reduction time was reduced sharply to 4 h when temperature was raised to 1300 °C. The best molar ratio of activated carbon and TiO2 is 0.6–1. At this condition, the content of Ti2O3 in slag is up to 95.63% and the content of the carbon element is below 0.004%, which meets the requirements for the further preparation of metal Ti by FFC Cambridge process. At the same time, the microstructure of Ti2O3 generated presented porosity, which would promote the electro-deoxidation process extremely.

Mar 1, 2017

By Lloyd Robert Nelson

The historical progression in installed electric furnace smelting capacity of some 1650 calcium, chromium, manganese, nickel and silicon ferro-alloys furnaces is reviewed. Key increases in the inherent installed electrical capacity, often achieved through uprating furnaces, are identified. Possible factors facilitating such advances are explored, including: specific process engineering and pyrometallurgical enhancements (e.g., improved control over the consistency, size and chemical form of raw materials, extents of preheating and pre-reduction delivered into the furnace; and patterns of feed distribution); furnace electrical configuration (AC or DC; immersed, submerged-, shielded- or open-arc); form of electrode (graphite, self-baking or composite); furnace configuration (circular or rectangular; closed or open and 1-, 3- or 6- electrodes); better engineering and equipment designs (e.g., high-intensity cooling) and state of furnace electrical and metallurgical control systems. A view is presented on the prevailing state of evolution of the Mega-scale in ferro-alloy smelting and opportunities for still further improvements.

Jan 1, 2014

By T. C. -M. Cheng

Iron removal and disposal in zinc plants has imposed a major environmental challenge to the industry. Among the existing options of precipitating iron as jarosite, goethite, and hematite, the Hematite Process seems to be the best candidate for the future development of a waste-free technology, because of its potential of producing saleable iron oxide residues for feed in iron-steel making industry. Unfortunately, under the current practice of the Hematite Process, it is not possible to produce iron residues clean enough to meet the specifications of the said industry. In this paper, the practice of industrial hematite precipitation and the relevant technical literature are reviewed with the objective to identify the critical processing parameters which are responsible for the contamination of hematite, particularly with sulfur and zinc. The analysis is conducted from a crystallization theory standpoint with emphasis given to the role of supersaturation with respect to the cleanliness of hematite precipitates.

Jan 1, 1997

By Jan Vrestal, Josef Tomiska, Pavel Broz

"Thermodynamic investigations on fcc solid ternary Fe-Ni-Cr alloys have been performed by means of the computer-aided Knudsen cell mass spectrometry. Ternary T.AP.-series (Thermodynamically adapted power series) are used for the algebraic representation of the thermodynamic excess properties. At 1650 K the molar excess Gibbs energy GE is negative over the whole field of stable fcc phase. The molar heat of mixing HE is exothermic in the predominant part of the fcc phase field. Only between the section with a constant ratio of mole fraction Xcr/XNi = 0.64 and the fcc phase field boundary the HE values are slightly endothermic. The results of this work can be used successfully for phase diagram calculations.IntroductionThermodynamic investigations on multicomponent alloy systems such as the Fe-Ni-Cr ternary system including the three binary boundary systems are very time-wasting and usually beset with considerable experimental difficulties. Additionally, the required experimental equipment is very expansive and the obtained results are not always satistying. Therefore it is understandable that many phase diagram calculations are based only on few experimental values of the molar excess free Gibbs energy GE. Consequently, Kundrat and Elliott [1] as well as Hillert and Qiu [2] used in their reassessments of the phase diagram of the Fe-Ni-Cr system thermodynamic data mainly assumed and/or optimized by means of various reasoning.Lee [3] reported recently, a revision of the used thermodynamic description of the Fe-Ni liquid phase is necessary to obtain a better agreement with the experimental data on the bcc/liquid or fcc/liquid tie lines and liquidus temperatures in the Fe-rich region of the Fe-Ni-Cr ternary system than in the previous assessments. This is 'in full agreement with mass spectrometric investigations of Fe-Ni alloys in the liquid and in the fcc solid phase, published earlier [4,5]. Indeed, phase diagram calculations based upon the molar excess free Gibbs energies GE obtained in these studies yield liquidus and solidus lines in excellent agreement with experimental phase diagram data [5]. Nevertheless, these experimental data have not been considered later on any more, not even in the revision by Lee [3]."

Jan 1, 1996

By Preben Ingerslev

Control of the reheating of ingots is based either on surface temperature measurements using optical pyrometers or on furnace set points and reheat time determined empirically. This paper presents a real-time mathematical heat flow model, named BESTT, which calculates the temperature distribution in an ingot cross section when reheated or cooled. The model runs on a 486 PC in less than one minute for a variety of ingot cross sectional shapes such as circular, square and with some considerations octagonal and heavy-cornered square. Initial temperatures can either be uniform or nonuniform while accounting for temperature dependent thermophysical properties. The model was developed and verified using 718 alloy ingots in box type furnaces. When integrated with on-line pyrometric measurements, BESTT can provide for improved feed back in the reheating control loop. The use of BESlT will assist in reducing energy costs, and improving product quality and consistency. EPD Congress 1994 Edited by C. Warren The Minerals, Metals k Materials Sodety, 1993

Jan 1, 1994

By Qingwei Wang

Heavy metal-containing wastewater from hydrometallurgical processes of lead-zinc was treated by biologics in a 200 m3/h industrial scale experiment. The result shows that Zn concentration declined from 50.28 mg/L~240.81 mg/L to 0.21 mg/L~1.98 mg/L, Pb from 1.00 mg/L~13.47 mg/L to 0.083 mg/L~0.71 mg/L, Cu from 0.24 mg/L~2.38 mg/L to 0.059 mg/L~0.40 mg/L, Cd from 2.12 mg/L~23.47 mg/L to 0.011 mg/L~0.071 mg/L and As from 0.50 mg/L~6.00 mg/L to 0.005 mg/L~0.10 mg/L. The concentrations of the above heavy metals in the treated water were lower than that in Integrated Wastewater Discharge Standard (GB8978~1996) in China. Furthermore, the treated wastewater was recycled and reused in smelter plant. Zinc content in hydrolytic sludge reached up to 34.04%, which indicates that this sludge can be used to recover valuable metals.

Jan 1, 2010

By Pengfu Tan

Electric arc furnace (EAF) dust from the steel industries is listed by the United Sates EPA as a hazardous waste under the regulations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act due to the presence of lead, cadmium and chromium. The disposal of the approximately 650,000 tons of EAF dust per year in the U.S. and Canada is an expensive and unresolved problem for the majority of steel companies. The Waelz process has been considered as the best process for treating EAF dust. A process model, combined thermodynamic modeling with heat transfer calculations, has been developed to simulate the chemical reactions, mass and heat transfer and heat balance in the kiln. The injection of air into the slag and the temperature profile along the kiln has been modeled. The effect of (CaO+MgO)/SiO2 on the solidus temperature of slag has been modeled also and discussed. Some optimizing results have been presented in this paper.

Jan 1, 2005

By Dean Ilievski

Mathematical modelling of the precipitation process requires that the kinetics of crystal growth, nucleation and agglomeration be known: This paper reviews the current state of knowledge on these precipitation sub-processes (ie. growth, nucleation and agglomeration) and describes a number of experimental techniques for estimating their kinetics. The experimental methods used to generate the precipitation data and the data analysis techniques used to extract the kinetics information from the data are discussed separately. There is no universal "best" technique for determining the kinetics. However, studies on multi-crystal systems are more reliable for modelling purposes than are single crystal studies. The selection of a technique will depend on which sub-processes are present. A problem with all kinetics studies is that there is generally a large uncertainty in the estimated kinetic parameters. This stems from the scatter in the experimental data being further propagated by the mathematical techniques used to extract the kinetic parameters.

Jan 1, 1996

By A. Niedbalska

A technique was developed for low pressure diamond synthesis using a specially prepared glassy carbon. The glassy carbon is produced in the form of solid plates by slow carbonization process of phenol formaldehyde resin interrupted at temperatures of 1273° K, 1073° K, and 923° K. The diamond synthesis is performed using cobalt plates as a catalyst-solvent. Synthesis was carried out at applied pressures of 6.0 and 3.8 GPa and a temperature of 1970° K and 2170° K. The products were analyzed by the x-ray powder dyffraction method and by microprobe to identify the diamond crystallites. The samples were taken from the place of contact between the glassy carbon and the cobalt catalyst. They were separated from the charge by a chemical method. Diamonds of the best form and the largest size were obtained at pressures that were much lower than those used in the traditional graphite method of diamond synthesis.

Jan 1, 1989

By J. Y. Hwang

The relationship between coal characterization and physical cleaning has not been well understood due to the complex nature of coal. Therefore, it is difficult to apply the results of coal characterization to predict and evaluate the performance of a physical separation (e.g. flotation). Eight U.S. bituminous coals were analyzed and studied petrographically in conjunction with washability and flotation tests. The results show that grindability correlates to ash and fixed carbon contents; liberation determined directly by petrographic techniques is close to liberation determined indirectly by washability; and an ideal separation efficiency can be determined by measuring the inertinite content and the washability separation efficiency using a heavy liquid with a density of 1.4. The ideal separation efficiency was attained for most coals by packed column flotation. The ideal separation efficiency can be used for comparing process technologies and process parameters.

Jan 1, 1988

By S. Uddin

An integrated device has been developed to measure sedimentation potential, conductivity and pH simultaneously of particulate systems. Maxwell?s model was used to calculate volume fraction of solid from the conductivity data. In this approach, all system variables are known and zeta potential can be calculated from Smoluchowski?s equation. The technique is validated by comparing zeta potential vs. pH for alumina and silica suspensions with electrophoresis measurements. The technique was extended to mixed alumina/silica systems. Sufficient column height along with size difference between the two minerals allowed gravity fractionation during settling. Sedimentation potential measured over time identified the transition from one mineral to the next. Using XRD analysis the results supported the correlation between surface charge and sample composition. This is a step towards characterizing surface charge of mixed systems of interest in mineral processing.

Jan 1, 2010

By Miller, Geoffrey W.

The Ravensthorpe Nickel Project (RNP) flow sheet provides for the upgrading of Ni & Co in a size based beneficiation process prior to leaching. The upgrading effect on Ni and Co makes the beneticiation process a powerful addition to the flow sheet. Multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis based on 351 individual batch tests, 52 large scale composites and 21 pilot plant tests has been used to successfully model beneticiation product grade, recovery, upgrade and mass recovery. Statistically, 83% and 96% of the variability in nickel recovery and nickel product grade respectively was accounted for. Algorithms have been developed for Ni, Co, Mg, Al and Fe, which represents the revenue and operating cost factors for the process. The algorithms have subsequently been applied to the resource model, allowing prediction of elemental grade and recovery for the development of the mine schedules based upon these parameters and not head grades alone. This has allowed optimisation of the mine schedule for improvement to the project's NPV. Keywords: Ni Laterite, Prediction, Multiple Linear Regression, Beneficiation

Jan 1, 2004

By W. E. Wallace, J. A. Warren, D. Josell, D. Wheeler

"We present the results of experiments and modeling of flip-chip geometry solder joint shapes under shear loading. Modeling, using Surface Evolver, included development of techniques that use an applied vector force (normal and shear loading) as input to determine a vector displacement of the pads connected by the solder joint (standoff height and misalignment). Previous solutions solved the converse problem: fixed displacements used to determine required applied force. Such solutions were inconvenient for applications, where the applied force (chip weight) is known. Also, for geometric and materials studies of solder joint shapes involving multiple parameters, determining the equilibrium displacement from applied force by bracketing solutions could become computationally expensive. Measurements of solder joint standoff height and misalignment as functions of the applied force (normal and shear), solder volume and pad diameter are presented. Experiments were carried out for solder ball diameters from 0.38 mm (0.029 mm3 volume) to 0.15 mm (0.0019 mm3 volume) on pads of diameter 0.64 mm and 0.35 mm. Fitting of simulation to experimental results gave optimized values for the contact angle and surface tension of the solder which were consistent with measured and literature values. IntroductionIn packaging technology flip-chip has become an important method for attaching semiconductor devices to substrates. Generally, the chip and substrate are bumped with solder and then the chip is flipped onto the substrate and the solder reflowed to form conductive interconnects. An epoxy underfill is normally flowed between the substrate and chip to reduce the thermal fatigue on the solder joints. A flip-chip assembly is illustrated in Figure 1.In flip-chip applications, the use of an integrated underfill/solder bump system [1, 2) removes an extra process step, namely infiltration of the underfill. However, the presence of an underfill will retard the self-alignment of the flip-chip. A first step in understanding and predicting this retardation is to develop a model to describe normal and lateral force-displacements curves when underfill material is not present. At this stage it is unclear whether static surface tension theory is sufficient to describe a complete model for flip-chip realignment even without underfill."

Jan 1, 2001

By Muammer Kaya, Sait Kursunoglu

"The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of ascorbic (C6H8O6) / oxalic (C2H2O4) acid as a reductant for the simultaneous recovery of zinc and manganese from a spent and mixed zinc-carbon and alkaline battery powder in sulphuric acid leaching. The effects of sulfuric acid concentration, ascorbic/oxalic acid dosages, reaction temperature and leaching time on the zinc and manganese dissolutions were investigated according to 2k full factorial experimental design; then, a simple optimization study was carried out for the best reductant. The optimum reductive acid leaching conditions were determined at 3 hours leaching time, 70°C leaching temperature, 0.5M sulfuric acid concentration, 13 g/L ascorbic acid dosage, 1/20 g/mL solid/liquid ratio and 200 rpm stirring speed. Under these conditions, the dissolution efficiencies were 99.9% for Zn and 99.3% for Mn. When our results were compared with the previous results, our findings were better than previous studies.In addition, the manganese dissolution kinetics was undertaken, and the activation energy was found to be 7.04 kJ/mol. Selective precipitations of Zn and Mn from acid solutions were carried out using NaOH and KOH. Using 3M NaOH as precipitating agent at room temperature and at pH 8; 95.4% of Zn and at pH 10; 93.7% of Mn were precipitated from the leaching solution. Under the same conditions, using 3 M KOH at pH 8; 91.6% of Zn and at pH 10, 96.4% of Mn were precipitated. Based on the experimental results obtained, an appropriate flow sheet was proposed to recover zinc and manganese."

Jan 1, 2012

By S. Malinov, J. J. McKeown, W. Sha, S. McShane

"A model is developed for prediction of fatigue stress life S-N diagrams for Ti-6Al-4V alloy at different conditions, using Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Different factors which have influence on the S-N diagram are involved as input parameters of the NN, namely microstructure, environment, texture, test/work temperature, surface treatment and stress amplitude. As the output the S-N fatigue diagram is simulated and plotted.The model is based on standard multilayer feedforward neural network. The NN is trained with a comprehensive data set collected from the literature, using Levenberg-Marquardt training algorithm in combination with Bayesian regularisation. A very good performance of the trained Neural Network is achieved. Good correspondence between ANN"" prediction and experimental S-N diagrams is observed. Using the model S-N diagrams for different conditions are predicted and analysed. Graphical User Interface is developed for use of the model. We believe that the model will be important for practical applications in solving various problems on fatigue behaviour of the titanium alloy.IntroductionTitanium and its alloys have an increasing range of applications due to their very good combination of mechanical properties, corrosion and erosion resistance. They are currently finding widespread applications in many industries due to their desirable and versatile properties. Most important among the alloys is Ti-6AI-4Y. Jet aircraft manufacturers are the principal 'consumers of Ti-6Al-4V and it is often specified for critical parts, the failure of which could result in the loss of an entire system. A generic class of Ti-6AI-4V has been developed over the past years and it has become the best understood of all the titanium alloys. The advantages of titanium alloys include: (i) low densities, giving very attractive strength to weight ratios allowing lighter and stronger structures; (ii) superior corrosion and erosion resistance in many environments; (iii) high temperature capability. Although the titanium materials are still considered as expensive materials, for many applications the cost of titanium alloys can be justified on the basis of their desirable properties."

Jan 1, 2001

By Nobuyuki Higashiyama, Ikuo Yonezu

"Hydrogen-absorbing alloys containing rare-earth elements are used in high capacity nickel-metal hydride secondary batteries,' hydrogen storage systems for portable fuel cells, and refrigeration systems. New hydrogen-absorbing alloys containing rare-earth elements have also been developed and introduced into these applications. High performance in nickel-metal hydride secondary batteries is strongly demanded because of the remarkable advancements in portable electric appliances. A large hydrogen absorption capacity, high electrochemical reactivity and superior corrosion resistance in an alkaline solution are required for hydrogen-absorbing alloys used in nickel-metal hydride batteries. The aim of this investigation is to improve the performance of conventional LaNi5 type hydrogen-absorbing alloys. For example, Mm(Ni-Co-Al-Mn)„ type hydrogen-absorbing alloys with various non-stoichiometric compositions were developed. In addition, a new process of rapid quenching process was applied for preparing these hydrogen-absorbing alloys in order to improve their performance.IntroductionRecently, the trend in electronic appliances toward portability has increased the demand for high capacity of secondary batteries as power sources. Since nickel-metal hydride batteries were first commercialized in 1990 in Japan, they have become increasingly popular as power sources for cellular phones, portable computers, electric shavers, and other, products.The performance of a nickel-metal hydride battery, such as its discharge capacity, high rate capability, and charge-discharge cycle life, strongly depends on the characteristics of the hydrogen-absorbing alloy negative electrode. Many types of hydrogen-absorbing alloys have been developed so far. For a hydrogen absorbing alloy to be used as the negative electrode material, (1) it must allow a large amount of hydrogen to be absorbed and desorbed in an alkaline solution, (2) its reaction rate should be high, and. (3) it must have long term durability under repeated charge-discharge cycling. However, LaNi5, a typical rare earth-nickel type alloy, shows significant capacity deterioration during repeated charge-discharge cycling. Therefore the first step in its development was to obtain sufficient corrosion resistance of the LaNi5 alloy for its use as an electrode material. A partial replacement of nickel with cobalt and a substitution of the lanthanum- content with misch metal (Mm), a mixture of rare earth elements such as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium, were very useful in improving the charge-discharge cycle life. However, the discharge capacity of the alloy was still not sufficient for a practical battery. A study of the effect of the partial substitution of aluminum and manganese showed that the best alloy composition was Mm(Ni-Co-Al-Mn)x, as follows.The stoichiometry x of Mm(Ni-Co-Al-Mn)x largely affects the discharge capacity and cycle life. Theose alloys with non-stoichiometric alloys with the compositions of [Mm(Ni-Co-AMn)x: 4.7<x<4.8] have a large capacity and a long cycle life. Nogami' et al. reported that 'a non-stoichiometric alloy with a Mm(Ni-Co-Al-Mn)x (x=4.76) composition showed approximately 10% higher discharge capacity than the stoichiometric alloy (x=5) [1] and greater influence of x on the electrochemical properties of multi-component AB„ type hydrogen-absorbing alloys for batteries."

Jan 1, 2000

By R. Singh, C. Gong, J. Chaudhry

"Metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is an ideal technique for the deposition of conducting and non-conducting oxide based thin film materials. In this paper we have presented a study of photo assisted MOCVD for the low temperature deposition of a number of oxide based advanced materials. We have used incoherent light sources as the source of optical and thermal energy in our MOCVD system. The vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and ultraviolet (UV) photons can enhance the surface reaction of the absorbed molecules through the perturbation of the electronic state of binding between the absorbed molecules and the solid surface. Unlike plasma process, no surface damage is expected and high quality materials have been deposited. At a given substrate temperature, the performance of deposited film depends on the lamp configuration.INTRODUCTIONMetalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) has become the standard manufacturing technique for the deposition of large area thin films of compound semiconductors. l.(.w-cost, high crystalline quality, atomically clean and sharp interfaces, atomic layer epitaxy, high throughput rates and potential for direct writing are some attractive features of MOCVD. Due to a number of potential advantages mentioned above, MOCVD is considered as an ideal technique for the deposition of various electronic and optical materials for a wide variety of applications. Rapid isothermal processing based on incoherent radiation as the source of optical and thermal energy is emerging as the key low thermal budget (integral of processing time and temperature) processing technique for the fabrication of current and next generation of microelectronic and optoelectronic devices and circuits [1]. In this paper we have demonstrated that the design of the lamp assembly plays an important role in determining the properties of the materials deposited by RIP assisted MOCVD. We have studied the growth rates, structural properties and electrical properties of Y2O3/Si structure. At a given substrate temperature, best results are obtained for the lamp assembly that provides maximum number of VUV and UV photons."

Jan 1, 1994

By Xu Weihong

After being pre-treated, composite electro-deposits of semi-bright nickel/nano-SiO2 with bright nickel or with amorphous Ni-P alloy, and Composite electro-deposits of Zinc were prepared on Nd-Fe-B magnetic material. The effect of cathodic current density, nano-SiO2 concentration, stirring strength and surfactants on the corrosion resistance of electro-deposits were studied. In addition surface appearance and structure of the composite coatings were analyzed by SEM. The present investigation shows that the corrosion resistance of composite electro-deposits of semi-bright nickel/nano-SiO2 with amorphous Ni-P alloy was the best, the solution system of semi-bright nickel/nano-SiO2 with bright nickel was stable and its electro-deposits also had an excellent corrosion resistance, composite electro-deposits of Zinc not only had good corrosion resistance, but also low cost, thus making it an excellent electro-deposit for medium or low-class Nd-Fe-B magnetic material.

Jan 1, 2006

By David Bequette, Ray D. Peterson, Cynthia K. Belt

"With a need to cut production costs in the metals industry, cost savings from energy efficiency improvements are critical. Opportunities can be found by reviewing furnace systems and practices so that the melting and holding processes operate at the highest energy efficiency. Many of the changes can be implemented with a minimum of expense or capital investment. This paper will review several low cost methods to optimize energy efficiency on reverberatory melting or holding furnaces. These five methods (furnace utilization, idle procedures, fire rate, controls, furnace pressure) will be explained and information given to implement these changes. Included are several rules-of-thumb and benchmarks for aluminum reverb furnaces.IntroductionEnergy can be a significant portion of the total manufacturing costs for metals and materials manufacturing involving thermal processing such as heat treating, melting, and high temperature processing. Natural gas prices have dramatically varied over the last few years. While no one can foresee the future, prices are expected to increase from the current low prices. More recently, emphasis is being put on the reduction of greenhouse gases with the potential of additional costs to industry.One of the first steps in an energy management program is to measure the energy usage of the process [1]. The results are typically understood in relation to the mass melted in kWh / mT [BTU / lb]. For the purposes of this paper, furnace energy efficiency is calculated over a month or even a year and thus includes hold times. This efficiency is typically different from the values quoted by furnace manufacturers. Those values are for limited short term tests at highutilization.Once you know the performance for your furnaces, these should be compared to industry benchmarks. For aluminum melt furnaces with cold air burner systems, a benchmark value or goal is 1800-2000 BTU/lb [1160-1290 kWh/mt], though some of the best have reached 1600 BTU/lb [1030 kWh/mt]. Furnaces with regenerative burners can attain 1100-1200 BTU/lb [710- 775 kWh/mt]. There are some designs of multi-chamber furnaces or oxygen furnaces that have improved on these numbers, perhaps as low as 950 BTU/lb [615 kWh/mt]. Typically, as the degree of sophistication and energy efficiency of the furnace increases, so does the cost."

Jan 1, 2010