Nucleation and Condensation of Magnesium Vapor in Argon Carrier

Abstract

The nucleation and condensation of Magnesium (Mg) vapor carried by argon gas (Ar) were examined. The condensation of Mg vapor at a heat source temperature of 1273–1473 K and Ar flow rate of 0.1–0.4 m3/h was analyzed. The result indicated that the condensation temperature is affected by the heat source temperature and Ar flow rate, and the condensation temperature of Mg vapor was 1013.3 K at a heat source temperature of 1473 K and Ar flow rate of 0.2 m3/h. The effects of Mg vapor partial pressure and temperature of the condensation zone on the nucleation and condensation of Mg vapor carried by Ar were calculated and analyzed in terms of atomic collisions and critical nucleation radius. Increased vapor oversaturation and decreased condensation temperature were favorable for liquid nucleation growth. The Mg condensation products in Ar flow rate of 0.2 m3/h at a heat source temperature of 1473 K were analyzed by XRD, SEM, and EDS, which indicated that the condensed product was of high purity and not easily oxidized in Ar flow. In this paper, the quality of Mg vapor condensation was controlled, which provided the theoretical and experimental basis for a continuous Mg production process.

Research on the Process, Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions of Different Magnesium Refining Processes

“…Jibiao Han et al [49,50] studied the nucleation and condensation mechanism of Mg vapor carried by argon and concluded that the condensation temperature of Mg vapor is influenced by the heat source temperature, the partial pressure of Mg vapor and the flow rate of argon. When the heat source temperature was 1473 K and the argon flow rate was 0.2 m 3 /h, the condensation temperature of magnesium vapor was 1013.3 K. The increase in Mg vapor supersaturation and the decrease in condensation temperature were favorable to the growth of liquid nucleation.…”

Effect of nanoclusters formed by metal impurity on magnesium vapor condensation in silicothermic process: a molecular dynamics study

“…Yang et al [22] found that crystallization quality is improved by increasing the Mg partial pressure under appropriate condensation temperature and temperature gradient. In addition, Wang et al [23] investigated the condensation behavior of magnesium vapor under an argon atmosphere. They also found that a slight temperature gradient and high partial pressure of Mg vapor improved the liquid phase's nucleation rate and crystallization quality.…”