ElementsGuy
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Thorium Oxide - Aluminum Thermite
Several years back there were several posts that mentioned using a thermite reaction to extract thorium from thorium oxide. Has anyone carried out a
thorium oxide-aluminum thermite reaction? If so, did you run into any particular issues?
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phlogiston
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There was the 'trials and tribulations of thorium production' thread (here) in 2014, which documented one members succesful attempt at calciothermic reduction of thorium oxide.
I'm not sure aluminothermic reduction would even be possible. I don't recall it ever seeing described, despite having read a bit on the subject.
Calcium seems tot be nearly exclusively used for this reaction.
A quick Google search shows the existence of thorium/aluminium alloys in widely varying ratios. So even if it is thermodynamically possible, you'd
probably end up with an Al-Th alloy.
Calcium is not very hard to obtain. Why not stay on the treaden path in this respect?
[Edited on 16-9-2019 by phlogiston]
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"If a rocket goes up, who cares where it comes down, that's not my concern said Wernher von Braun" - Tom Lehrer |
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ElementsGuy
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Thank you for your response. It appears that the thorium oxide-aluminum reaction is endothermic, which would be a problem. I will check further into
the reduction using calcium.
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