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Issue 52 | May 2009
OCE Postdoctoral Fellow, Matthew Rowles,
is one of the researchers using ANSTO's
neutron beamline to develop a new technique
Photo by Dr Andrew Studer, ANSTO
In a Light Metals Flagship project, scientists from Minerals and the University of Melbourne are using neutron diffraction at ANSTO's OPAL reactor to develop an in-situ technique for examining inert anode deterioration during the electrowinning of light metals. Due to the challenging experimental conditions, few techniques are available that can characterise changes in the cell materials in real – time.
'To improve the life of an inert anode during electrowinning, we need to understand the mechanisms of deterioration', says OCE Postdoctoral Fellow Matthew Rowles. Matthew who has been using the neutron beamline along with his Minerals' colleagues Kathie McGregor, Nikki Scarlett, Ian Madsen, and the University of Melbourne's Daniel Riley and PhD student Mark Styles.
'From previous research, we already have a good idea of how our first test anode deteriorates during electrowinning', Matthew says, 'making this cell a good starting point for developing an in-situ technique'.
In previous work, Nikki used x-ray diffraction at the Daresbury Synchrotron Radiation Source in the United Kingdom to examine the anodes in titanium electrowinning cells. The cells had been operated in the laboratory at 900°C for various times and then cooled to room temperature, giving 'snap shots' of the cells at various stages of the process.
'The experiment was repeated on the same cells, but using neutron diffraction', Matthew explains. The advantages of neutrons are that they are more penetrating than x-rays and can give different information to
x-rays; however, both neutron and x-ray techniques can provide valuable information on the mineralogical and chemical reactions occurring during electrowinning.
'We are in the proof-of-concept stage of this research', Matthew says. 'We aim to find a technique that gives us good results – whether it is using x-ray or neutron diffraction or a combination of both – then we can begin in-situ experiments to demonstrate the technique.'
'The goal of the project is to have a technique that will determine the mechanisms of anode or cathode deterioration in any electrowinning process. We envisage that the technique could also be applied to study other systems in extreme environments.'
