Preparation of enriched rare-earth metals by hydrofluorination and reduction

Enriched rare-earth metals are employed in many areas of basic and applied research. Capabilities for preparing enriched rare-earth metals at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have been limited in recent years to reduction–distillation of the oxides of Sm, Eu, and Yb, using La as a reductant. The capability for producing enriched Ce, Nd, Gd, Dy, Er, and Lu in gram quantities has recently been restored via hydrofluorination of the oxide followed by metallothermic reduction employing Ca as a reductant. Typical yields for gram-quantity conversion of rare-earth oxides have been demonstrated to be 90% or greater.