Sun Qingguo

Electrolytic Preparation of Mg-La Alloy in Chloride Molten Salt: Effect of Electrolyte Composition

Abstract Mg-La alloys were prepared by potentiostatic electrolysis in the molten salt system of MgCl 2 -LaCl 3 -KCl. The effects of electrolyte composition on average electrolysis current, current efficiency, and compositions of the alloy products were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) were used to characterize the Mg-La alloy product. The average electrolysis current is found to gradually decrease with the increase of the LaCl 3 content in the initial electrolyte due to the lower conductivity of LaCl 3 as compared to that of MgCl 2 . A high current efficiency over 90% can be obtained when the electrolyte composition is KCl (65wt%), MgCl 2 (20wt%−15wt%), and LaCl 3 (15wt%–20wt%). The compositions of the obtained Mg-La alloys can be adjusted by changing the electrolyte composition.