Thermochemistry of Inorganic Fluorine Compounds

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Thermochemical data on inorganic fluorides are applied practically to energy balancing and equilibria in the fluorochemical and allied industries. In addition, they can be used to rationalize some of the peculiarities of fluorine chemistry. Thus, the almost monopolistic position of cryolite melts in the manufacture of aluminum- and possible extensions to electrowinning of other metals- has encouraged studies in molten fluoride systems. The use of uranium fluorides for isotope enrichment, fuel recovery, and metal production in the nuclear power industry has prompted thermochemical investigations of these fluorides and of the interhalogen fluorides. Developments in high-temperature thermochemistry of fluorine compounds have followed from the use of fluorides in rocket propulsion, and from attempts to improve tungsten lamp efficiencies by fluoride additions to the lamp gas. At the other extreme, problems arising from fluorides in the environment, such as the lifetime of chlorofluorocarbons in the atmosphere and of fluorides in water supplies, have encouraged studies into stabilities of simple and complex fluorides, often at high dilutions.