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Technical equipment of the working groups

Hydrometallurgy

  • Electrolysis technical centre with small and semi-technical electrolysis cells (up to 35 l) and various power supply devices (rectifier up to 1000 A, PCR, alternating current 1 to 1000 Hz)
  • Hydrometallurgical technical centre with membrane filtration systems, dialysis/electrodialysis, solvent extraction
  • Laboratory for basic electrochemical investigations (potentiostat, galvanostat, electrochemical workstation, rotating disc and cylinder electrode)
  • Chemical analytical laboratory with ICP-OES, AAS, XRF, C-S analyser, spark emission spectrometer for Cu and Al
  • High-resolution scanning electron microscope with EDX and WDX

Working Group Hydrometallurgy

Pyrometallurgy

  • ISA-Smelt pilot plant and small bath smelter (TSL technology) for the extraction of non-ferrousmetals in the temperature range up to 1400 °C
  • Electrically heated rotary kilns (large and small) for the pretreatment of metal-containing raw materials in the temperature range up to 1200 °C (large) and up to 1400 °C (small)
  • Induction furnaces (MF and HF) for the pretreatment and melting of metal-containing raw materials in the temperature range up to 1500 °C (MF) and up to 1800 °C (HF)
  • Muffle furnace, Chamber furnace, crucible furnace for pre-treatment and melting of metal-containing raw materials in the temperature range up to 1350 °C
  • High-temperature viscometer (0.01-102 Pa ∙ s, max. up to 1500°C) for viscosity measurements on liquid glasses and slags
  • High-temperature furnace for melting or sintering refractory metals and materials in the temperature range up to 1750°C
  • Heating microscope for determining the hemispherical point and flow point of slags
  • Equipment for material and sample preparation: Jaw crusher, vibrating sieve shaker, vibrating mill, planetary monomill, laboratory mixer, pelletising disc, carbide saw
  • High-resolution scanning electron microscope with EDX and WDX

Pyrometallurgy working group

Molten salt metallurgy

  • Technical centre for molten salt electrolysis with electrolysis cells on a laboratory to technical scale and various power supply devices (rectifier up to 1000 A, alternating current 1 to 1000 Hz, potentiostats)
  • Cell for investigating the corrosion of anode materials in molten salts
  • Semi-continuous molten salt pyrolysis reactor
  • Muffle furnace, chamber furnace, Crucible furnace for pretreatment and melting of salts and metal-containing raw materials in the temperature range up to 1350 °C
  • IR and FTIR gas analysers for online measurements of process gases
  • Technical centre for material preparation under inert atmosphere (Glovebox, Schlenkline)
  • High-resolution scanning electron microscope with EDX and WDX

Working Group Molten Salt Metallurgy

Semiconductor materials

  • Furnace systems for the VGF crystal growth of Ge and GaAs single crystals with magnetic fields
  • Induction melting system for Si crystal growth
  • Furnace system for the vapour deposition of GaN crystals
  • SessileDrop-System for determining the contact angle and surface tension of semiconductor melts
  • Cleanrooms with equipment and systems for cleaning and preparing materials and components as well as for the metallographic characterisation of semiconductor crystals
  • Optical microscopes for characterising semiconductor samples, u.including correlative and confocal microscopy
  • Plasma secondary neutral particle mass spectrometer for chemical characterisation of semiconductor samples
  • High-resolution scanning electron microscope with EDX and WDX

Semiconductor Materials Working Group