Preparation of tantalum metal

  The preparation of tantalum is the process of reducing tantalum compounds to it by reducing agent. The pure tantalum compound has five oxide, five chloride, five fluoride and fluorine salt (such as K2TaF7). The reducing agent contains active metals such as sodium and magnesium and carbon and hydrogen. The melting point of tantalum is as high as 3669K, so it is powdered or sponge metal after reduction. Only after further smelting or refining can the dense metal be obtained.

   The main production methods of tantalum are sodium thermal reduction, carbothermal reduction and molten salt electrolysis. Sodium thermal reduction of potassium fluoride is the most widely used production method in the world. The tantalum powder produced is complex in shape and has large specific surface area. It is suitable for manufacturing capacitors. Carbothermal reduction of tantalum pentoxide is a mature method of production in industry, but because the purity of products is not high enough, it is not as widely used as sodium reduction. According to the composition of electrolyte, molten salt electrolysis can be divided into two methods: oxygen-containing electrolyte electrolysis and oxygen-free electrolyte electrolysis. Molten salt electrolysis can only produce metallurgical grade powder. Tantalum pentafluoride hydrogen reduction is considered to be one of the most potential tantalum production methods, but it has not been used in industrial production because of the high requirements of equipment material and environmental protection.

   Most tantalum is directly used as powder to manufacture capacitors for electronic industry. Therefore, the process of powder preparation, such as capacitor-level tantalum powder preparation, hydrogenation method to produce powder and vacuum heat treatment of powder, also belongs to the category of tantalum production.

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