title: A furnace and environmental cell for the in situ investigation of molten salt electrolysis using high-energy X-ray diffraction.
abstract: This paper describes the design, construction and implementation of a relatively large controlled-atmosphere cell and furnace arrangement. The purpose of this equipment is to facilitate the in situ characterization of materials used in molten salt electrowinning cells, using high-energy X-ray scattering techniques such as synchrotron-based energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction. The applicability of this equipment is demonstrated by quantitative measurements of the phase composition of a model inert anode material, which were taken during an in situ study of an operational Fray-Farthing-Chen Cambridge electrowinning cell, featuring molten CaCl(2) as the electrolyte. The feasibility of adapting the cell design to investigate materials in other high-temperature environments is also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia. mark.styles@csiro.au
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Styles
authors.forename: Matthew R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Rowles
authors.forename: Ian C
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McGregor
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Urban
authors.forename: Graeme A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Snook
authors.forename: Nicola V Y
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Scarlett
authors.forename: Daniel P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Riley