The Journal of
the Korean Journal of Metals and Materials

The Journal of
the Korean Journal of Metals and Materials

Monthly
  • pISSN : 1738-8228
  • eISSN : 2288-8241

Editorial Office

Title Smelting & Refining ; Carbothermic Reduction of Ta2O5 by Ar Plasma Arc Melting
Authors 김병규(Byoung Gyu Kim); 김원백(Won Baek Kim); 최국선(Good Sun Choi); 서창열(Chang Youl Suh); 임재원(Jae Won Lim); 한만갑(Man Gap Han)
Page pp.622-627
ISSN 1738-8228(ISSN), 2288-8241(eISSN)
Keywords tantalum; plasma arc melting; carbon-reduction; refining; Vickers hardness; impurity
Abstract A Ta metal has been produced by the carbon-reduction of Ta2O5 by Ar plasma melting. Concentration change of oxygen and carbon impurities in the Ta metal produced by the carbon-reduction has been also investigated. It was found that a pure Ta metal without Ta2O5 and TaC could be obtained when the ratio of carbon and Ta2O5(C/Ta2O5) was 5.0. Considering only total oxygen and carbon concentrations, the Ta metal with the purity of 99.85% could be obtained at the C/Ta2O5=5.0. The oxygen concentration in the Ta metal considerably decreased with increasing the C/Ta2O5, and the Vickers hardness of the Ta metal decreased down to about 230~240 Hv with the remarkable decrease in the oxygen concentration, which means that the hardness of Ta metal strongly depends on the oxygen concentration.