Rare earth market analysis in November 2017

Rare earth prices kept falling down since August, 2017. Prices of most rare earth products dropped largely. For example, price of didymium oxide fell by 40% and price of dysprosium oxide by nearly 30%.

Scanning Analysis of REE in Bastnaesite with Synchrotron Radiation X－Ray Fluorescence Microprobe

The content of REE(La.Ce.Pr.Nd.Sm) in bastnaesite was measured by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence microprobe.Scanning analysis makes use of excitation of the REE K lines between 33 and 50 keV.SR white beam from a Wiggler source at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider(BEPC) of the National Laboratory,in order to excite the REE.The bastnaesite from the same mineral area was powdered to particle size≤300 mesh.It was then divided into two parts.One portion was used to be determined by XRF after depositing with oxalate and transforming into oxide.The other was pressed into disk without any binder as the reference sample.The weight and the diamieter of the disk were 15 g and 26 mm respectively.

Thermodynamic analysis of inclusion in weld

The metallurgical effect of light rare earth on inclusion in weld metal has been investigated by means of scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray energy dispersion spectrometer (EDAX), micro particle analyzer (MPA), electon probe microscope (EPMA),and thermodynamic analysis. The results have shown that the light rare earth alloys have a cleaning and modifying action after transferred into the weld metal through coating electrode. Besides, their action of deoxidization is stronger that of desulphuration.

Analysis and Suggestion to the Development of the Rare Earth Industry in China

China’s rare earth resource dominates othercountries.The rare earth industry is also anemerging industry worldwide.Rare earth materialis a strategic advanced material in the21st century and plays an important role inthe renovation of traditional industries andthe development of high-tech industries.Thedevelopment of the rare earth industry includingresource development and utilization,technical research and industrial restructuringhas therefore received great attention from

Kinetics of fluorescence properties of Eu^(3+) ion in strontium-aluminiumbismuth-borate glasses

Eu3＋ doped strontium-aluminium-bismuth-borate glasses with the chemical composition（50–x）B2O3＋20Bi2O3＋7Al F3＋ 8Sr O＋15Sr F2＋x Eu2O3（where x=0.1 mol.%, 0.5 mol.%, 1.0 mol.% and 1.5 mol.%） were prepared by the conventional melt quenching technique.Structural properties of the prepared glasses were analysed through X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, energy dispersive spectroscopy（EDS） and Raman spectral techniques.Thermal stability of glass was analysed by differential thermal analysis（DTA） curve.Photoluminescence characteristics were studied using excitation, emission spectra and decay curves of Eu3＋ doped strontium-aluminium-bismuth-borate glasses.The Judd-Ofelt（J-O） intensity parameters, Ωλ（λ=2, 4 and 6） were obtained using emission spectra and was used to identify the nature of Eu3＋ ions with their surrounding ligands.Using J-O parameters the transition probabilities（A）, stimulated emission cross-sections σE p, branching ratios（βR） and radiative lifetimes（τmeas and τcal） were evaluated for the 5D0→7F J（J=0, 1, 2, 3 and 4） transition of Eu3＋ ions in the present glasses.The decay profiles were found to be non exponential for all the concentrations and the measured lifetimes（τmeas） were obtained from the decay profiles.The higher values of A, σE p, βR and quantum efficiency（η） for 5D0→7F2 emission transition at 617 nm confirmed the present glass was as active medium for red laser emission applications.

Surface composition change of chlorine-doped catalyst Ni(Clx)/CeO2 in methanation reaction

The oxide sample NiO/CeO_2 with feed atomic ratio of Ni/Ce at 40%, prepared by co-precipitation method and calcination at 500 oC for 2 h, was impregnated by aqueous solution of NH_4Cl to dope chlorine ions. After the impregnated samples were dried and calcined at 400 oC for 2 h, the calcined samples NiO（Cl_x）/CeO_2（x=0.1–0.5） were characterized by means of X-ray diffraction（XRD） and temperature programmed reduction（TPR） techniques. It was comfirmed that the doped chlorine ions hindered reduction of Ni^（2＋） ions in the calcined samples, and suppressed adsorption of CO_2 and CO on the reduced sample Ni（Cl_（0.3））/CeO_2. The reduced samples Ni（Cl_x）/CeO_2（x=0.0–0.5） were used as catalysts for selective methanation of CO in H_2-rich gas. When chlorine ions were doped at the feed atomic ratio of Cl/Ce（x） equal to 0.3–0.5, CO in the H_2-rich gas could be removed to below 10 ppm with a high selectivity more than 50% in a wide reaction temperature range of 220–280 oC. However, the selectivity of CO methanation decreased with reaction time in the durability tests over the catalyst Ni（Cl_（0.3））/CeO_2 at the reaction temperature of 260 oC and even at 220 oC. The lowering of the selectivity was found to be related with the surface composition change of the catalyst in the catalytic reaction.

Self-polymerization and co-polymerization kinetics of gadolinium methacrylate

Gadolinium methacrylate（Gd（MAA）3） was synthesized by using gadolinium oxide and methacrylic acid as the starting materials and its self-polymerization kinetic was studied based on non-isothermal and isothermal analysis. Moreover, the monomer reactivity ratios of methyl methacrylate（MMA） and Gd（MAA）3 were evaluated by using Kelen-Tiidos method. The thermal neutron shielding properties of PMMA and poly（MMA-co-Gd（MAA）3） were calculated by MCNP program. The results show that the selfpolymerization of Gd（MAA）3 can be initiated by thermal and free radical and its activation energy is103.35 kJ/mol or 58.55 kJ/mol correspondingly in the solid state or aqueous solution. The polymerization rate,Rp,under low conversion at 65 ℃ is expressed as Rp = K[M]^（1.05）[I]^（0.60）. The reactivity ratios of r1（MMA） and r2（Gd（MAA）3） are 0.225 and 1.340, respectively. The ability of thermal neutron shielding of poly（MMA-co-Gd（MAA）3） is increased by gadolinium contents and is far better than PMMA.

Density of Na3AIF6-AIF3-LiF-MgF2-Al2O3-Sm2O3 molten salt melt for Al-Sm alloy

Samarium（Sm） has been widely used in making aluminum（Al）-Sm magnet alloy materials. The research team for this study developed a molten salt electrolyte system which directly produces AI-Sm alloy to replace the energy intensive conventional distillation technology. In this study, molten melt density was measured and operation conditions were optimized to separate AI-Sm alloy product from the fluoride molten melt electrolysis media based on density differences, Archimedes＇ principle was applied to measure density for the basic molten fluoride system（BMFS： Na_3 AlF_6-AlF_3-LiF-MgF_2）electrolysis media in the temperature range from 905 to 1055 ℃.The impact of temperature（t） and the Al_2O_3 and Sm_2O_3 addition ratio（w_（（Al2O3））,w_（（Sm2O3）） in the basic fluoride system on molten melt density was examined. The fluoride molten melt density relationship was determined to be：ρ=3.11701-0.00802 w_（（Al2O3））＋0.027825 w_（（Sm2O3））-0.00117 t. The test results showed that molten density decreases with increase in temperature and Al_2O_3 addition ratio, and increases with the addition of Sm_2O_3, and/or Al_2O_3＋Sm_2O_3. The separation of Al-Sm（density 2.3 g/cm^3） product melt from the BMFS melt is achieved by controlling the BMFS density to less than 2.0 g/cm3. It is concluded that the optimal operation conditions to control the BMFS molten salt density to less than 2.0 g/cm^3 are：maintain addition of Al_2O_3＋Sm_2 O_3（w_（（Al2O3））＋w_（（Sm2O3））〈9% of Na_3AlF_6,Al_2O_3/Sm_2O_3 ratio（w_（（Al2O3））：w_（（Sm2O3）））〉 7：3, and temperature between 965 and 995 ℃.

Influence of oxygen non-stoichiometry on physical properties of NdSr_2Mn_2O_(7±δ)

Nd Sr2Mn2O7＋δ compounds were synthesized by ceramic method under three different cooling conditions. The Nd Sr2Mn2O7＋δ samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction（XRD）. Oxygen non-stoichiometry data for the studied powders were determined by using gravimetric and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS） methods. The correlation of cooling method and oxygen as non-stoichiometry was established. The electroconductivity in samples was studied by using four-point probe method, and the strong correlation with non-stoichiometry was found out. Magnetization measurements were carried out. It was found that the magnetic and transport properties of the samples were also influenced by oxygen non-stoichiometry. The evolution of the magnetic properties could be explained by the formation of magnetic clusters in the vicinity of oxygen vacancies（OV） and strong competition between the superexchange and double exchange interactions.

Spectroscopic studies of gel-grown lanthanum malonate crystals

Lanthanum malonate crystals were grown by single tube ionic diffusion through silica gel. The crystallinity of the grown crystals was analyzed by powder X-ray diffraction studies. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） and fourier transform （FT） Raman studies confirmed the presence of functional groups in the title compound. The optical band gap energy of the material was extracted from diffuse reflectance spectrum.