Deoxidation of neodymium by halide flux treatment

Rare-earth metals usually contain large amounts of oxygen because of their reactiveness, and therefore oxygen removal is one of the major problems in the purification of rare-earth metals. In the present work, a halide flux t reatment at high temperatures under an inert gas atmosphere was applied for the deoxidation of neodymium. NdF3 was used as a halide flux. The deoxidat ion reaction and its mechanism were discussed based on the experimental res ults. It was clarified that the halide Aux treatment is very effective for the deoxidation of rare earth metals.