| A life dedicated to molten salts and powder metallurgy - Part 1 Georges Kipouros1; 1DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY, Halifax, Canada; PAPER: 541/Molten/Regular (Oral) SCHEDULED: 15:55/Tue. 29 Nov. 2022/Game ABSTRACT: At 50th year anniversary of the research, some fields stand out: The first is the molten salt research at University of Toronto. There the successful electrorefining of zirconium metal in chloride-fluoride melts was achieved and the separation of the two elements in alkali molten salt systems. This was followed by Electrolytic and in-situ Raman spectroscopic studies of molten salts Massachusetts Institute of Technology (aluminum, magnesium and molybdenum systems). The industrial chloride electrolysis cell for magnesium production was investigated successfully and the streamers were observed during the electrolysis. The chloride aluminum production cell was also investigated, and spectacular new results were observed. Molten salts research passed industry at General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan, USA where a molten salt process was developed to produce neodymium-iron alloy to be used in the production of Nd2Fe14B permanent magnets discovered at General Motors Research Laboratories, Warren, Michigan, USA. Basic research was the focus again at the Technical University of Nova Scotia (TUNS/Dalhousie). Three new research directions were investigated: the passivation of copper cathodes in the production of pure copper; the aqueous corrosion of cermets and the electroless coating of difficult to plate metals. Transferring the academic to the industry was the next step and more specifically to use molten salts research for the reduction of weight in transportation at the Department of Physics, General Motors Research and Development Center. A new process was successfully developed to produce high purity mangesium for automobile manufacturing And curiosity to tackle new fields lead to the research Cermets (Titanium carbide (TiC)-based ceramic-metal composites). Developed a well-equipped modern laboratory that not only allows for the preparation of cermets but also the corrosion performance of the various types produced in the laboratory. Electroless/Electrolytic plating came as a necessity following the research at Texas Instruments. A new process was developed that was successful for aluminum and extended to the electroless Ni-P coating on carbon steel using the ammonia-free friendly bath and was used in a smart application of the application of Ni-P on steel axles which allows to monitor the thickness of phosphorating of Ni-P during the operation. Powder metallurgy and additive manufacturing was an interesting addition in the research because the Artificial Intelligence helped tremendously in the expansion of the powder metallurgy to the extent that AI is considered the powder metallurgy or additive metallurgy. Kipouros laboratory was the first to demonstrate the aluminum powder sintering and later with the collaboration of GKN Sinter metal. |
