Indium In Form Research Articles

Physical and Chemical Fundamentals and Technical Solutions for Recovery of Non-ferrous and Rare Metals from Industrial Wastes


 
 
 The increasing demand for zinc and a range of zinc-related metals (for example: lead; indium; tin; cadmium; and copper) in the Russian Federation cannot be satisfied by the existing production plants due to the lack of raw materials. At the same time, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy and the chemical industry have accumulated hundreds of millions of tons of zinc wastes (falling into the hazard categories 2 to 4), the processing of which could not only make up the raw material base, but also improve the environmental situation. In the world, over 85% of ferrous dust is recycled using the Waelz process. The Waeltz process is used for distilling separation of elements under reducing conditions. In this study, a block diagram for production of the following elements from industrial wastes is proposed: zinc, cadmium and indium in form of massive metals; zinc and indium in the form of fine powders; and clinker as a raw material for cement production. The technical and scientific details of this new process have been patented in the Russian Federation and abroad. For the first time, the following operations have been implemented with the use of large-sized Waelz kilns: vapour-oxidized Waeltz treatment of polymetallic wastes; recycling of heat from gases and solid products with generation of process fumes; and implementation of alternative flux (dolomite) and alternative fuel (petroleum coke).
 Keywords: Waelz process, industrial wastes, heat recycling, vapour-oxidized Waelz processing
 
 

Effect of in Addition on Microstructure and Properties of Zn-5Al Solder

The effect of In addition on melting behaviors, microstructure and properties of Zn-5Al solder were investigated. It was found that addition of In decreasing the melting point of Zn-5Al solder. XRD analysis confirmed the presence of Indium in form of α-Zn+β-In solid solution. The segregation of In on grain boundary was observed. Segregation of In on grain boundary caused a significant decrease of strength of the Zn-5Al-In solder compared to Zn-5Al.

Synthesis of indium selenide (In2Se3) by prior mechanical pulverization and mechanical alloying for thermoelectric applications

Indium selenide is an emergent thermoelectric material. This work presents the synthesis and characterization of powdered indium-selenide (In2Se3) starting from elemental selenium powder and elemental indium in the form of beads, using a previous process of pulverization and subsequently submitting this powder to mechanical alloying in order to obtain the compound and to reduce the grain size, for this, the effect of the milling time of 30 h was studied. In order to characterize the powders obtained via mechanical alloying, x-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis were used. The morphological evolution was studied through scanning electron microscopy and to analyze the nanoparticles, transmission electron microscopy analysis was used. In this way, it is demonstrated that the desired compound is obtained from elemental selenium powder and elemental indium in form of beads which allows to reduce the costs of the raw material.