PHASE EQUILIBRIUM IN SYSTEM (LiF)2 – Li2CO3 – Li2SO4

Abstract

The liquidus surface of the system (LiF)2-Li2SO4-Li2CO3 was studied by the calculated and differential thermal method of physicochemical analysis. An analysis of the systems of lower dimensionality of the facets of the investigated object showed that the most informative, for the experimental study, is the sections located in the crystallization field of lithium fluoride. A study of the DTA of a number of compositions located at the initially chosen polythermal section in the lithium fluoride crystallization field, the ratios of lithium sulfate and carbonate in the eutectic are determined. The composition of the triple eutectic was revealed by studying a non-invariant cut from the vertex of the triangle (LiF), through a point showing a constant ratio of sulfate and lithium carbonate in the eutectic, to the fusion of the thermal effects of the primary and tertiary crystallizations. The complexity of the study was that lithium carbonate is the most fusible component in the system, and according to the literature, after the melting of lithium carbonate, decomposition begins, which greatly complicates the interpretation of research results. In order to avoid the decomposition of lithium carbonate, each experimentally studied composition was heated to the melting temperature of lithium carbonate and kept in isothermal mode, at a temperature below its melting. Thus, the theoretical melting calculations and the region of location of the non-invariant composition have been extrapolated, allowing to limit the number of experimentally studied samples, and the subsequent experimental investigation of DTA of two polythermal sections revealed a eutectic composition crystallizing at 476 ° C and containing LiF-20 eq.%, Li2SO4 - 51 eq.%, Li2CO3 – 29 eq.%. The discrepancies between theoretical calculations and experimental studies are 8.3% in temperature and 5.05% in composition.