Preparation of Al-Si Master Alloy by Electrochemical Reduction of Volcanic Rock in Cryolite Molten Salt

Abstract

Volcanic rock found in the Longgang Volcano Group in Jilin Province of China has properties essentially similar to Apollo lunar soils and previously prepared lunar soil simulants, such as Johnson Space Center Lunar simulant and Minnesota Lunar simulant. In this study, an electrochemical method of preparation of Al-Si master alloy was investigated in 52.7 wt.%NaF-47.3 wt.%AlF₃ melt adding 5 wt.% volcanic rock at 1233 K. The cathodic electrochemical process was studied by cyclic voltammetry, and the results showed that the cathodic reduction of Si(IV) is a two-step reversible diffusion-controlled reaction. Si(IV) is reduced to Si(II) by two electron transfers at −1.05 V versus platinum quasi-reference electrode in 52.7 wt.%NaF-47.3 wt.%AlF₃ molten salt adding 5 wt.% volcanic rock, while the reduction peak at −1.18 V was the co-deposition of aluminum and silicon. In addition, the cathodic product obtained by galvanostatic electrolysis for 4 h was analyzed by means of x-ray diffraction, x-ray fluorescence, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometry. The results showed that the phase compositions of the products are Al, Si, Al₅FeSi, and Al_3.21Si_0.47, while the components are 90.5 wt.% aluminum, 4.4 wt.% silicon, 1.9 wt.% iron, and 0.2 wt.% titanium.