Calciothermic production of niobium aluminide (NbAl3)

A process based on calciothermic reduction of Nb2O5 in the presence of alum inium has been developed for the production of NbAl3 (Niobium aluminide). i n this scheme, the charge constituents - Nb2O5 and aluminium in the powder form and calcium granules are thoroughly mixed and reacted at temperatures above 1173 K in argon atmosphere. The reduced mass is leached with acetic a cid and water to recover the alloy product. The alloy was then analysed che mically for composition and by XRD for identification of the phases present . After a series of experiments, it has been established that single phase alloy of NbAl3 could be produced under conditions of stoichiometric amounts of the oxide and aluminium with 20% excess of calcium reductant and reduct ion at a temperature of 1273 K for 8 h duration.