Cathodic Behavior of Titanium Diboride in Aluminum Electrolysis

The results of a laboratory invest igat ion concern ing the cathodic behav ior of TiB2-based mater ia ls in a luminum elec-trolysis are presented and discussed. X-ray microanalys is reveals sod ium penetrat ion, the extent of wh ich is in agreement w i th e lectrochemica l predict ions cons ider ing the codeposi t ion of sod ium with the a luminum at the cathode. The app l i ca t ion to cathode des ign of conduct ive mate-r ials wet ted by l iqu id a luminum [e.g., t i tan ium d ibor ide and o ther s imi lar mater ia ls of ten re ferred to as re f ractory hard meta ls (RHM)] represents the most p romis ing med ium-term modi f i cat ion for reduc ing energy usage in the convent iona l Ha l l-H~rou l t p rocess (1-9). The cel l wou ld then be operated w i th a th in f i lm of l iqu id meta l on the s loped bot tom, avo id ing the det r imenta l e f fects due to e lec t romagnet ic agitat ion, and the anode-cathode d is tance cou ld there fore be reduced s ign i f i cant ly a long w i th the cell voltage. Thus, the va lues of the specif ic en