Purification of iridium by electron beam melting

Abstract

The purification of iridium metal by electron beam melting has been characterized for 48 impurity elements. Chemical analysis was performed by glow discharge mass spectrographic (GDMS) analysis for all elements except carbon, which was analyzed by combustion. The average levels of individual elemental impurities in the starting powder varied from 37 μg/g to 0.02 μg/g. The impurity elements Li, Na, Mg, P, S, Cl, K, Ca, Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Pd, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Te, Ba, Ce, Tl, Pb, and Bi were not detectable following the purification. No significant change in the concentration of the elements Ti, V, Zr, Nb, Mo, and Re was found following melting. The elements B, C, Al, Si, Cr, Fe, Ru, Rh, and Pt were partially removed by vaporization during electron beam melting. Langmuir's equation for ideal vaporization into a vacuum was used to calculate for each impurity element the expected ratio of impurity content after melting to that before melting. Equilibrium vapor pressures were calculated using Henry's law, with activity coefficients obtained from published data for the elements Fe, Ti, and Pt. Activity coefficients were estimated from enthalpy data for Al, Si, V, Cr, Mn, Co, Ni, Zr, Nb, Mo, and Hf and an ideal solution model was used for the remaining elements. The melt temperature was estimated from measured iridium weight loss and impurity measurements. Good agreement, either quantitative or qualitative, was found between measured and calculated impurity ratios for all impurity elements. The results are consistent with some localized heating of the melt pool due to rastering of the electron beam, with an average vaporization temperature of 3100 K as compared to a temperature of 2965 K calculated for uniform heating of the melt pool. The results are also consistent with ideal mixing in the melt pool.