A Review of Niobium-Tantalum Separation in Hydrometallurgy
Niobium and tantalum are chemically similar and are associated with each other in nature which makes it very difficult to separate. For many years, the separation of tantalum from niobium involved the fractional crystallization of potassium heptafluorotantalate away from potassium oxypentafluoroniobate monohydrate, this method has been supplanted by solvent extraction from fluoride-containing solutions by the use of solvent extractants such as Octanol, bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (DEHPA), Alamine 336, methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK), tri-nbutyl phosphate (TBP) or cyclohexanone. A detailed review of the various processes involved in the breakdown treatment of niobium and tantalum primary sources, extraction and separation and newer processes of extraction as well as the various technique involved were discussed. Keyword: Niobium, Tantalum, Columbite, Tantalite, Solvent extractant and Solvent extraction.
1 Effect of Magnesium Spinel on the Properties and 2 Structure of Composites PTFE / Layered Silicate 3
The article describes the study of the properties of polytetrafluoroethylene, modified 15 using natural layered silicates serpentinite. It is shown that the introduction of a small amount of 16 layered silicates significantly increases the tribological characteristics of the material. The 17 additional introduction of magnesium nano-spinels facilitated the formation of an intercalated 18 polymer-silicate nanocomposite. 19
Unidirectional hexagonal rare-earth disilicide nanowires on vicinal Si(100)-2×1
Rare-earth disilicide nanowires grown on vicinal Si(100) with a miscut of 2–2.5° toward the [110] azimuth at 600 °C were studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and compared with those grown on flat Si(001). In contrast to rare-earth disilicide nanowires grown on flat Si(100) surfaces, the nanowires grow unidirectionally along the [01̄1] direction of the vicinal Si(100) surface. Rare-earth disilicide nanowires form bundles composed of single nanowire units on both flat and vicinal surfaces. Yet, on the vicinal surface, the bundle width is comparable to the width of the terrace. The average nanowire length on the vicinal substrate is longer than that on the flat substrate. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy shows that the rare-earth disilicide nanowires have metallic properties.