Fluorine content niobium oxide

In some cases, the degree of fluorine contamination of tantalum and niobium oxides containing increased fluorine levels is not very critical to the later application of the oxides. Applications related to the manufacturing of optic and electronic devices, however, require significant limitations of the fluorine content of tantalum and niobium oxides. 

Ammonium hydrofluoride is relatively stable, even in the molten state. In addition to being in contact with tantalum or niobium oxide, the compound will initiate the fluorination process yielding complex tantalum or niobium fluoride compounds. There is no doubt that thermal treatment of the hydroxides at high temperatures and/or at a high temperature rate leads to the enhancement of the defluorination processes, which in turn results in an increase in fluorine content of the final oxides. 

Different procedures for the precipitation, washing and thermal treatment of hydroxides result in different fluorine contamination levels in the final products - tantalum and niobium oxides. Laboratory and industrial experience confirms some correlation between the initial concentration of fluorine in the dried hydroxides and the fluorine content in the final oxides obtained after appropriate thermal treatment. For instance, it is reported in [499] that if the initial concentration of fluorine in niobium hydroxide equals A%, then the fluorine content in the final niobium oxide can be estimated according to the thermal treatment temperature as follows ... 

Agulyanskaya et al. [507] investigated the impact of fluorine content on the particle size of niobium and tantalum oxides and powdered lithium niobate and tantalate prepared from the oxides. It was shown that fluorine concentrations lower than 10"2% wt. do not influence particle size and result in a set minimum particle size. This concentration range was referred to as being non-... 

In an extensive review of the geochemistry of volatile-bearing minerals in mantle xenoliths, Ionov et al (1997) have pointed out that although minerals such as mica, amphibole, and apatite are often referred to as hydrous, in many cases they have very low H2O contents (Boettcher and O Neill, 1980). In such cases, these minerals may have significant amounts of fluorine, chlorine and CO2. Mica, amphibole, and apatite, together with the oxide phases, are important hosts for titanium, potassium, rubidium, strontium, barium, and niobium (Table 9). 

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