Titanium Matrix Composite Electrode Materials Performance And Production Applications

Non-ferrous metal hydrometallurgy industry consumes lots of energy. In the electrolytic deposition process, the anode electrochemical reaction system is the core of the whole subject and the stability of the electrolysis process is easy to be overlooked and has become the bottleneck of power consumption reducing. In recent years, the coated titanium electrode has been a research focus in this field just because of its advantages such as stable dimensionally, low-gassing overpotential, good corrosion resistance, light weight and strength. However, the researches on the titanium anode are more around the deployment and expansion of the coating materials of titanium anode and the performance of carrier material of the electrode are generally ignored.The author started from the structure designing of the base material, breaking the traditional of the structural model that electrode with a single metal (or alloy) as its electrode base material, proposed layered structure of "sandwich" as the base material of electrode, prepared new composite electrode materials by the aluminum or copper as the inner core and outer layer coated by titanium. By analyzing interface of layered composite material morphology, conductivity, bonding strength and electrochemical performance of Ti-Al, Ti-Cu in different process parameters, combined with sample preparation process, the hot diffusion welding parameters optimized. That the best preparation parameters of Ti-Al layered composite material:composite temperature of 550℃, holding time of 90min, constant 6MPa, pass into the argon gas; That the best preparation parameters of Ti-Cu layered composite material:composite temperature 800℃, constant pressure 10MPa, holding time of 60min, which leads to protection of argon gas.Coat the anodes with Ti/RuO2 of chlorine evolution coating and Ti/IrO2-Ta2O5 of oxygen evolution coating. Analysis the surface morphology and electrochemical performance of various Anode, test and comparison the electrochemical performance of Ti-Al, Ti-Cu layer with the LSV and CV tests, layered composite base material anode enhanced electrochemical properties significantly. Test the EIS of different electrode materials to analyze electrochemical catalytic characteristics and shows that the performance enhance of composite electrode materials are not caused by the activity of oxide coating Oxygen electrocatalytic capabilities directly, but by the resistance decreases of the base portion electrode. By decreasing the overall resistance of the electrode, the transfer resistance of the electrons from the electrode to the reactant in the process of full decreased, which effectively increases electrochemical performance of anode.In addition, to verify the effect of the composite anode materials used in the production of electrolyte, simulate the production experiment in 150～350 A/m2 the current density are performed. Its electrowinning cell voltage, current efficiency, energy consumption and quality of nickel cathode was studied, the results show that the Ti-Al, Ti-Cu composite electrode cell voltage lower than conventional electrodes of about 70～150mv, the cell voltage decreased about 2.3～5.0%; current efficiency compared with traditional electrodes increased by 9.7% and 7.3%, Ti-Cu composite electrode which saves 10.1% of DC power consumption, energy saving effect is obvious; the quality of cathode electrode of nickel products of layered composite materials is good, apparent morphology normal, composition qualified. The energy-saving mechanism of layered composite electrode materials is analyzed that the layered composite material fully used the special nature of the metal layers, making the plate surface current distribution more uniform and improve the current efficiency, combined with aluminum, copper plate decrease in cell voltage and electrochemical cell performance enhancements, integrated role in the electrolysis process, reducing power consumption.Literature search shows that such researches are not reported at home and abroad. The project's study not only reduced the energy consumption of metallurgical industry, but also promoted the advances in electrochemical industry technology. It will have far-reaching significance on industry application of the electrode materials and contribute to the construction of economical, low-power sustainable development society.