Process for manufacturing metal containing powder

Abstract

A process for manufacturing metal containing powder, the process including the steps of: (a) mixing at least one metal oxide powder with Ca or Mg granules and/or calcium hydride in granule or powder form to form a mixture; (b) maintaining said mixture under an H 2 atmosphere, at a temperature between 1000° C. and 1500° C. for 1-10 hours, followed by: (c) recovering metal containing powder. Metal hydride powder may be recovered. The process may further include between steps (b) and (c): (d) switching the H 2 atmosphere to an Ar atmosphere and maintaining the mixture thereunder for a period of 20 minutes to 5 hours, followed by: (e) cooling under Ar atmosphere, wherein metal powder is recovered in step (c).

1 . Process for manufacturing metal containing powder, the process comprising the steps of:
 a. mixing at least one metal oxide powder with Ca, Mg, calcium hydride, magnesium hydride or a mixture thereof, in the form of granules or powder, to form a mixture;   b. maintaining said mixture under an H 2  atmosphere, at a temperature between 1000° C. and 1500° C. for 1-10 hours, followed by:   c. recovering metal containing powder.   
     
     
         2 . Process according to  claim 1 , which is a process for manufacturing metal hydride powder, comprising the steps of:
 a. mixing at least one metal oxide powder with Ca, Mg, calcium hydride, magnesium hydride or a mixture thereof, in the form of granules or powder, to form a mixture;   b. maintaining said mixture under an H 2  atmosphere, at a temperature between 1020° C. and 1100° C. for 2-4 hours, followed by:   c. recovering metal hydride powder.   
     
     
         3 . Process according to  claim 1 , which is a process for manufacturing metal powder, comprising steps a) and b), followed by:
 d. switching the H 2  atmosphere to an Ar atmosphere and maintaining the mixture thereunder at a temperature between 1000° C. and 1500° C. for a period of from 20 minutes to 5 hours, followed by;   e. cooling under Ar atmosphere, and;   f. recovering metal powder.   
     
     
         4 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the ratio between number of oxygen atoms in said metal oxide and number of calcium atoms (O:Ca) is in the range of 1:1.7-1.1 or 1:1.5-1:1.1 or 1:1.5-1:1.05, or 1:1.4-1:2, or 1:1.2. 
     
     
         5 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein the metal is Al, Si, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ge, Zr, Nb, In, Sn, Sb, Hf, Ta, W, Pb, Bi, rare earth metals (i.e. Sc, Y, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb), Th and/or U 
     
     
         6 . Process according to  claim 5 , wherein the metal is Ti, Cr, Nb, W, or Ta. 
     
     
         7 . Process for manufacturing metal powder according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 said metal oxide powder is TiO 2  powder and said powder mixture is maintained in step b) under an H 2  atmosphere, at a temperature between 1020° C. and 1100° C. for 3 hours.   
     
     
         8 . Process according to  claim 1 , wherein step a comprises including one or more additional reagents within the mixture, said one or more additional reagents being one or more metals or metal oxides. 
     
     
         9 . Metal powder or metal hydride powder produced according to  claim 1 . 
     
     
         10 . Metal powder or metal hydride powder according to  claim 9 , wherein the metal is Ti, Cr, Nb, W, or Ta. 
     
     
         11 . Metal powder or metal hydride powder according to  claim 9 , wherein the metal is substantially free from oxygen. 
     
     
         12 . Metal powder or metal hydride powder according to  claim 1 , having an amount of oxygen lower than 0.35% by weight.