A hydrogen, lithium, and lithium hydride processing apparatus includes a hot zone to heat solid-phase lithium hydride to form liquid-phase lithium hydride; a vacuum source to extract hydrogen and gaseous-phase lithium metal from the liquid-phase lithium hydride; a cold zone to condense the gaseous-phase lithium metal as purified solid-phase lithium metal; and a heater to melt the purified solid-phase lithium metal in the cold zone and form refined liquid-phase lithium metal in the hot zone.

In a system and method for separating metals from a substance comprising them, a system may comprise a constant current power supply and a furnace having a chamber for containing the substance. The furnace may comprise an insulating outer section, a chamber wall, and two electrodes.

An apparatus for separating and recovering the components of an alloy, particularly a noble alloy, including a high vacuum chamber housing at least one crucible for the alloy to be separated; at least one heating element arranged, during use, around the crucible; at least one condensation device, which faces, during use, an upper mouth of the crucible. The particularity of the present invention resides in that the condensation device includes at least one cold element and at least one deflector that is adapted to divert the flow of the aeriform substances derived from the melting and evaporation of the alloy toward the cold element. The invention also relates to a process for separating and recovering the components of an alloy, particularly a noble alloy.

An apparatus for separating and recovering the components of an alloy, particularly a noble alloy, including a high vacuum chamber housing at least one crucible for the alloy to be separated; at least one heating element arranged, during use, around the crucible; at least one condensation device, which faces, during use, an upper mouth of the crucible. The particularity of the present invention resides in that the condensation device includes at least one cold element and at least one deflector that is adapted to divert the flow of the aeriform substances derived from the melting and evaporation of the alloy toward the cold element. The invention also relates to a process for separating and recovering the components of an alloy, particularly a noble alloy.

The present invention belongs to the technical field of preparation of light metal alloy materials, in particular to a method for producing a magnesium-lithium alloy by a gaseous co-condensation method. The method comprises the steps of: 1) mixing and briquetting a lithium salt, a refractory agent and a catalyst under pressure, and then thermally decomposing to form an unsaturated composite oxide; 2) respectively crushing and ball-milling, and then briquetting the unsaturated composite oxide, magnesium oxide, a reducing agent and a fluxing agent; 3) reducing briquettes in vacuum; 4) making a gas pass through a first condensing chamber of a temperature control device, and then purifying; 5) The purified metal gas is condensed into the condensing phase of the alloy through the second condensing chamber of a quenching device; 6) obtaining the magnesium-lithium alloy with a purity being 99.5% or above by virtue of smelting and flux-refining, and then purifying by distillation. The magnesium-lithium alloy obtained in the present application is not segregated, so that a stable β-phase solid solution or a compound having an increasing purity being 99.95% is formed.

The present invention belongs to the technical field of preparation of light metal alloy materials, in particular to a method for producing a magnesium-lithium alloy by a gaseous co-condensation method. The method comprises the steps of: 1) mixing and briquetting a lithium salt, a refractory agent and a catalyst under pressure, and then thermally decomposing to form an unsaturated composite oxide; 2) respectively crushing and ball-milling, and then briquetting the unsaturated composite oxide, magnesium oxide, a reducing agent and a fluxing agent; 3) reducing briquettes in vacuum; 4) making a gas pass through a first condensing chamber of a temperature control device, and then purifying; 5) The purified metal gas is condensed into the condensing phase of the alloy through the second condensing chamber of a quenching device; 6) obtaining the magnesium-lithium alloy with a purity being 99.5% or above by virtue of smelting and flux-refining, and then purifying by distillation. The magnesium-lithium alloy obtained in the present application is not segregated, so that a stable β-phase solid solution or a compound having an increasing purity being 99.95% is formed.

A method of melting and refining an alloy comprises vacuum induction melting starting materials to provide a vacuum induction melted alloy. At least a portion of the vacuum induction melted alloy is electroslag remelted to provide an electroslag remelted alloy. At least a portion of the vacuum arc remelted alloy is vacuum arc remelted to provide a singly vacuum arc remelted alloy. At least a portion of the singly vacuum arc remelted alloy is vacuum arc remelted to provide a doubly vacuum arc remelted alloy. In various embodiments, a composition of the vacuum induction melted alloy comprises primarily one of vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, niobium, molybdenum, technetium, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, tantalum, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold.

A method of melting and refining an alloy comprises vacuum induction melting starting materials to provide a vacuum induction melted alloy. At least a portion of the vacuum induction melted alloy is electroslag remelted to provide an electroslag remelted alloy. At least a portion of the vacuum arc remelted alloy is vacuum arc remelted to provide a singly vacuum arc remelted alloy. At least a portion of the singly vacuum arc remelted alloy is vacuum arc remelted to provide a doubly vacuum arc remelted alloy. In various embodiments, a composition of the vacuum induction melted alloy comprises primarily one of vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, niobium, molybdenum, technetium, ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, silver, tantalum, tungsten, rhenium, osmium, iridium, platinum, and gold.

Disclosed is a pyrometallurgical process for producing a crude solder comprising at least 9.5-69% wt of tin and at least 25% wt lead, at least 80% tin and lead together, 0.08-12% wt of copper, 0.15-7% wt of antimony, 0.012-1.5% wt of bismuth, 0.010-1.1% wt of zinc, at most 3% wt of arsenic, at most 2.8% wt of nickel, at most 0.7% wt of zinc, at most 7.5% wt of iron and at most 0.5% wt of aluminium, from a feedstock selected in terms of its levels of Sn, Cu, Sb, Bi, Zn, As, Ni and Pb, the process comprising at least the steps of obtaining in a furnace a liquid bath of metal and slag, introducing a reducing agent and optionally also energy, separating the crude solder from the slag and removing liquid from the furnace. The crude solder may readily be further prepared to become suitable as feedstock for vacuum distillation.

In the present invention, a high-purity metallic tin suitable for use in an EUV exposure device is provided through use of an oxidation-resistant metallic tin, the oxidation-resistant metallic tin containing 99.995 mass % or more of tin, and unavoidable impurities, and the thickness of an oxide film being 2.0 nm or less when the surface of a cut face of the oxidation-resistant metallic tin is measured by AES.