Microwave Irradiation Process for Al-Sc Alloy Production.

Scandium is being explored as an alloying element for aluminium alloys, which are gaining importance as high-performance lightweight structural alloys in the transportation industry. Sc-rich ScAlN thin films show strong piezoelectricity and can be fabricated on a hard substrate for use as wideband surface acoustic wave filters in next-generation wireless mobile communication systems. However, the use of ScAlN thin films in microelectromechanical system devices is limited by the high cost of metallic Sc, which is due to the difficulty in smelting of this material. Here, we propose a novel microwave irradiation process for producing Al-Sc alloys, with Mg ions as a reducing agent. Although scandium oxide is thermodynamically stable, intermetallic Al3Sc is obtained in high yield (69.8%) via a low-temperature (660 °C) reduction reaction under microwave irradiation. Optical spectroscopy results and thermodynamic considerations suggest a non-thermal equilibrium reaction with the univalent magnesium ions excited by microwave irradiation.

Smelting of Scandium by Microwave Irradiation.

Scandium is being explored as an alloying element for aluminum alloys, which are gaining importance as high-performance lightweight structural alloys in the transportation industry. A few years ago, Sc was also found to be suitable for use in electrical devices. High-Sc-content ScAlN thin films have attracted significant attention because of their strong piezoelectricity. The piezoelectric response of ScAlN suggests that ScAlN thin films formed on a hard substrate would be suitable surface acoustic wave wideband filters for next-generation wireless communication systems. However, it is often difficult to use ScAlN thin films in MEMS devices-including acoustic ones-because of the extremely high price of metallic Sc, given the difficulty associated with smelting it. Here, we propose a novel process for smelting Sc metal by microwave irradiation. Sc metal was able to be obtained successfully from ScF3 through a microwave-irradiation-based carbon reduction reaction. The reaction temperature for this reduction process was approximately 880°C, which is half of that for the conventional smelting process involving reduction with Ca. Thus, the proposed microwave irradiation process has significant potential for use in the smelting of Sc metal.

Smelting Magnesium Metal using a Microwave Pidgeon Method.

Magnesium (Mg) is a lightweight metal with applications in transportation and sustainable battery technologies, but its current production through ore reduction using the conventional Pidgeon process emits large amounts of CO2 and particulate matter (PM2.5). In this work, a novel Pidgeon process driven by microwaves has been developed to produce Mg metal with less energy consumption and no direct CO2 emission. An antenna structure consisting of dolomite as the Mg source and a ferrosilicon antenna as the reducing material was used to confine microwave energy emitted from a magnetron installed in a microwave oven to produce a practical amount of pure Mg metal. This microwave Pidgeon process with an antenna configuration made it possible to produce Mg with an energy consumption of 58.6 GJ/t, corresponding to a 68.6% reduction when compared to the conventional method.