Study on surface tension of Dy-Cu intermediate alloy prepared using LiF-DyF3 molten salt system

Abstract

In this paper, the surface tension data for LiF-DyF3-oxides and a Dy-Cu liquid mixture system over a wide range of compositions and temperatures are described in detail by experimental and theoretical calculations. Aqra's equation was used to predict the surface tension of pure DyF3 at a temperature above its melting point. Butler's model, and Santos and simplified Santos models were used to predict the surface tension and the relationship between surface phase and bulk phase composition with different components and temperatures of the LiF-DyF3 molten salt mixture and Dy-Cu binary alloy. The study investigated the suitable conditions, similarities and differences among Bus model, and Santos and simplified Santos models that were used to predict the surface tension and the relationship between the surface phase and bulk phase compositions. The surface tension of the LiF-DyF3-oxide system was measured via detachment method. The dissolution behavior of Dy2O3 and Cu2O in the LiF-DyF3 system was observed in a transparent cell at high temperature. The results show that the Santos and simplified Santos models can be used for predicting the surface tension of the LiF-DyF3 system, but not for predicting that of the Dy-Cu binary alloy. The dissolution rate and solubility of Dy2O3 are faster and better than those of Cu2O in the LiF-DyF3 system, which results in the surface tension being highly influenced by the addition of Dy2O3 into LiF-DyF3 mixture molten salts.