Baotou rare Earth Research Institute: strengthening Technical International Cooperation to find a New Direction of rare Earth Application

SMM News: recently, Baotou rare Earth Research Institute built an industrial test production line with an annual output of 300t hydrogen storage alloy materials, using 200kg medium frequency induction furnace using casting process and 300kg medium frequency induction furnace using rapid quenching process to develop alloy products.

This production line is a phased achievement of the project "Cooperative Research on the preparation and Properties of rare Earth Y2FeSb2 hydrogen Storage Alloys", which is a cooperative project between Baotou rare Earth Research Institute and the Department of Chemistry, Moscow State University, Lomonosov, Russia.

International scientific and technological cooperation is not only an important part of China's scientific and technological activities, but also the only way to absorb science and technology and find the high-end of the rare earth industry, because a lot of rare earth science and technology are mastered by foreign countries.

As the fourth batch of "international scientific and technological cooperation bases" approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology in 2009, the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Baotou rare Earth Research Institute has continuously strengthened international cooperation over the years. A number of international cooperation projects have been carried out with Sweden, France, Germany, Russia, Slovenia, Japan, India and other countries in the fields of hydrogen storage, magnetic materials, magnetostriction, magnetic refrigeration and rare earth mineral processing. At the same time, through exchanges between the two sides and the holding of international seminars, the international influence in the field of research and application of rare earth materials has been greatly enhanced.

Strengthening International Cooperation in basic Scientific Research for the orientation of rare Earth Industry

The development of efficient, zero-emission hydrogen energy technology is a major global strategic demand in the 21st century, including China. At present, the large-scale application of rare earth hydrogen storage alloy is an important material for the development of hydrogen energy technology.

"through the industrial production line test of hydrogen storage alloy materials, the performance of the alloy produced by 300kg/ furnace medium frequency induction furnace reaches the index of experimental samples, and the electrochemical capacity exceeds 370mAh ·g-1. The trial-produced AA battery shows excellent charge / discharge cycle stability." Said Yan Huizhong, a technical expert and senior engineer of Baotou rare Earth Research Institute.

According to Yan Huizhong, although some progress has been made in the application and research and development of La-Y-Ni alloy materials, systematic and in-depth research on the structure of materials and the relationship between structure and properties has not been carried out, which has become a technical bottleneck and core scientific problem restricting the transformation of achievements.

Basic research is an important theoretical support for applied research. Through the basic research work, the thermodynamic phase diagram database of La-Y-Ni system containing H is constructed, and the kinetic mechanism of hydrogen absorption and desorption of La-Y-Ni alloy with excellent hydrogen storage properties is analyzed experimentally, which provides a theoretical basis for the practical research of La-Y- Ni hydrogen storage alloy. The effects of the main constituent elements, preparation technology and process conditions on the phase structure of La-Y-Ni hydrogen storage alloy, the microstructure of the alloy and its effect on material properties, and the mechanism of capacity attenuation of alloy materials are studied. The target alloy can be controlled by composition design and synthesis technology, which provides scientific basis and theoretical guidance for the efficient development of La-Y-Ni hydrogen storage alloy materials.

Based on the results of basic research, the actual discharge capacity of the new high capacity La-Y-Ni hydrogen storage materials is more than 390mAh/g, which exceeds the theoretical capacity of traditional Lani 5 hydrogen storage alloys, and solves the problem that it is difficult to prepare high capacity La-Mg-Ni hydrogen storage alloys. The comprehensive properties meet the market demand and break through the restrictions of foreign patents.

In addition, it also cooperates with the Department of structural Chemistry of Arrhenius Laboratory of Stockholm University in Sweden on the project "Cooperative Research and Development of Metal hydride-Air Battery". The project absorbs the characteristics and advantages of Ni-MH battery and hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell, and is closest to the relevant indicators set by the American Advanced Battery Association (USABC). It has the advantages of high specific energy density (100 ~ 220Wh kg-1), low cost, good safety, no pollution to the environment, long service life and so on. It is expected to become the main energy of electric vehicles and all kinds of mobile communication equipment in the future.

Since the approval and construction of the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for rare Earth Materials, it has undertaken a total of 15 intergovernmental international cooperation projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology. it provides a technical and theoretical basis in many fields, such as rare earth hydrometallurgy and environmental protection engineering research, rare earth pyrometallurgy and environmental protection engineering research, rare earth functional materials, rare earth light alloys, application research of rare earth in agriculture, rare earth analysis and detection technology and so on.

Strengthen the dialogue and exchange of scientific and technological achievements to help the nationalization of rare earth industry achievements

Europe is in the world leading level in the research on the commercial application of magnetic refrigeration. In order to understand the recent situation of magnetic refrigeration research in Europe, we should deeply communicate with the cooperation in related fields. Through years of efforts, Baotou rare Earth Research Institute rare Earth Materials International Science and Technology Cooperation Base has successfully built a platform for international exchanges and cooperation. In 2010 and 2017, seminars on room temperature magnetic refrigeration technology were held, which were attended by nearly 100 scholars and engineers from research institutes, refrigeration enterprises and universities, such as the Netherlands, Japan, France and the United Kingdom.

"through international scientific and technological cooperation, we have made use of the advanced basic research advantages and advanced test equipment of the European Union, Japan and other developed countries in the field of rare earth materials to further deepen the research depth and improve the level of their own research and development technology." Wang Yan, a staff member of the International Science and Technology Cooperation Base for rare Earth Materials of Baotou rare Earth Research Institute, said.

In Baotou rare Earth Research Institute, the maximum refrigeration temperature difference of the composite room temperature magnetic machine (freezer) designed and developed by Huang Jiaohong, who is in charge of the project, has reached 23 ℃, which has reached the international advanced level. "our magnetic refrigeration products use magnetic materials and water as media, which can save 30% to 50% more energy than existing gas refrigeration." Huang Jiaohong said that the magnetic refrigeration project team has a total of 12 researchers. Among them, 2 doctorates and 7 masters have been granted 6 refrigerator patents.

At present, the composite room temperature magnetic refrigerator has been integrated, which can carry a refrigeration space of more than 100L, the maximum refrigeration temperature difference is 26 ℃, the lowest temperature at the cold end can reach-6.5 ℃, and the calculated value of the cooling power of the magnetic refrigeration mechanism is 1000W. The achievement has reached the international advanced level.

Magnetic refrigeration technology uses magnetocaloric effect to refrigerate, so there is no need for gas compression and expansion in the refrigeration process, and the noise is greatly reduced, which breaks the refrigeration principle of refrigerators commonly used in the market. Especially in terms of energy saving, the efficiency of magnetic refrigeration is also higher than that of traditional compression refrigeration technology, which means that under the same refrigeration effect, magnetic refrigeration requires less power consumption.

In addition, Baotou rare Earth Research Institute has also made some achievements in many fields, such as rare earth hydrometallurgy and environmental protection engineering research, rare earth pyrometallurgy and environmental protection engineering research, rare earth functional materials, rare earth light alloy, application research of rare earth in agriculture, rare earth analysis and detection technology and so on. Including vacuum heat treatment furnace, high vacuum sintering furnace, vacuum induction melting furnace, high vacuum multi-function arc melting furnace and other material preparation equipment; vibrating sample magnetometer, scanning electron microscope, differential thermal analyzer, nano-size analyzer, oxygen and nitrogen analyzer, plasma emission spectrometer and other key analysis and testing equipment, improving the transformation efficiency of scientific and technological achievements.