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Purification of the Rare Earth Metals

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Purification Process and Characterization of Ultra High Purity Metals

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Processing ((SSMATERIALSPROC))

Abstract

The rare earth elements have a history of intriguing scientists with their rich variety of physical properties. Early attempts to investigate these properties were hampered, however, by a lack of suitably pure sampies, for it so on came to be realized that the intrinsic properties of these notoriously reactive metals could only be measured if their typical impurity levels were significantly reduced. Thus, for the past few decades, purification and property measurement have gone hand in hand, a process that is still not complete, as is regularly demonstrated by the discovery of new phenomena as higher-purity samples are produced. This chapter looks at the sources and nature of impurities in rare earth elements and discusses those properties of the rare earths that are relevant during their purification. Several purification methods are described, including vacuum melting, zone refining, vapor techniques and electrotransport. Since the aim of preparing very-high-purity metal is normally to perform so me sort of experiment, rat her than purification for its own sake, consideration is also given to sampie preparation and crystal growth, for these operations generally take place alongside the purification and can sometimes be combined with it. The final section comprises an element-by-element review of the published literature.

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  1. Institute of Multidisciplinary, Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-choume 1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Yoshio Waseda  & Minoru Isshiki  & 

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Fort, D. (2002). Purification of the Rare Earth Metals. In: Waseda, Y., Isshiki, M. (eds) Purification Process and Characterization of Ultra High Purity Metals. Springer Series in Materials Processing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56255-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-56255-6_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-62530-5

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