Direct Determination of Rare Earth Impurities in High Purity Europium Oxide by ICP-MS

A novel inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method for direct determination of trace rare earth impurities in high purity europium oxide (Eu_2O_3) was developed. The spectral interference,matrix effect,instrument parameters fluctuation were investigated and the optimized experimental conditions were established. Under the selected conditions,the detection limits of the method are 3～7 ng·L (-1),the RSD is varied between 2.1%～8.4%,and the percentage recovery is ranged from 90% to 113% for the analytes. The solid detection limit for gross amount of 13 rare earth impurities is 0.19 μg·g (-1) when the matrix (Eu) concentration of 0.1 mg·ml (-1) was chosen. Compared with the reported methods in the literature,this method has several attractive features: simple,small sample amount required,no internal standard and matrix matching requirements.

Determination of Non-Rare Earth Impurities in High Purity Lanthanum Oxide by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry after HPLC Separation Using P507 Resin

A new method for the determination of trace non-rare earth elements (NREEs) impurities in high-purity lanthanum oxide by HPLC combined with ICP-AES is proposed. The chromatographic retention behaviors of matrix (La) and NREEs were studied using 2-ethylhexyl hydrogen 2-ethylhexyl phosphonate (P507) chelating resin as the stationary phase and dilute nitric acid as the mobile phase. It is found that the use of pH 1.7 nitric acid enables effective elution of NREEs from HPLC column, but the lanthanum remains on the column. The experimental results show that a favorable separation between matrix lanthanum and NREEs can be obtained within 15 min. The method proposed is applied to the determination of 8 NREEs impurities in high-purity La2O3. The recoveries of 8 NREEs are in the range of 90 % similar to 110 %.

Electronic Theoretical Study of the Interaction between Rare Earth Elements and Impurities at Grain Boundaries in Steel

The model of dislocations was used to construct the model of grain boundary (GB) with pure rare earths, and rare earth elements and impurities. The influence of the interaction between rare earth elements and impurities on the cohesive properties of 5.3° low angle GB of Fe was investigated by the recursion method. The calculated results of environment sensitive embeding energy( E ESE ) show that the preferential segregation of rare earth elements towards GBs exists. Calculations of bond order integrals (BOI) show that rare earth elements increase the cohesive strength of low angle GB, and impurities such as S, P weaken the intergranular cohesion of the GB. So rare earth element of proper quantity added in steel not only cleanses other harmful impurities off the GBs, but also enhances the intergranular cohesion. This elucidates the action mechanism of rare earth elements in steel from electronic level and offers theoretical evidence for applications of rare earth elements in steels.

Removal of impurities from scandium chloride solution using 732-type resin

The deep removal of Al, Fe（Ⅱ/Ⅲ）, Ca, Zr, Ti and Si from scandium chloride solution was carried out by using 732-type strong acid cation exchange resin. The effects of pH value, contact time and complexing agents（EDTA） on the purification process are investigated. The results indicate that the 732-type resin have a good scandium selectivity and the adsorption order is Sc 〉 Fe（Ⅲ）〉Al 〉 Ca 〉 Zr 〉 Ti 〉 Si in the pH range of 1-3. The separation of Sc and Zr, Si, Ti can be directly carried out because the resin have a good adsorption effect on Sc, AI and Fe（Ⅲ） but poor adsorption effect on Zr, Si and Ti under the condition of pH = 2.5 and contact time 180 min. The Fe（Ⅱ）, Ca and Al are selectively adsorbed on the resin by adding reducing agent ascorbic acid and EDTA into the solution for reducing Fe（Ⅲ） to Fe（Ⅱ） and complexing Sc.By using two-step ion exchange adsorption separation method, the removal rates of Fe（Ⅲ）, Ti, Al, Ca, Zr and Si are 95.5%,99.8%,100%,98.2%,98.6% and 100%,respectively.