GIANT PARTICLE AND SINGLE CRYSTAL OF CHROMIUM AND PRODUCTION THEREOF

Abstract: A process for producing single crystal of chromium with an arbitrary form by secondary recrystallization, said process aiming at solving the problems of a conventional process for producing said single crystal by the floating zone method, for example, that the forms which the crystal can assume are restricted and the apparatus for the production thereof is complicated. Based on the finding that the desired single crystal can successfully be produced by controlling the content of impurities present in the chromium component, such as Co, Ti, Al, Si and Ca, it now becomes possible to produce single crystal of chromium with a complicated form by sintering chromium containing Ti, Al, Si and Ca in amounts of 0.0002 to 0.1 wt % in terms of oxides thereof and optionally also 0.01 to 3 wt % of Co, and heat treating the sinter.

Description: The present invention relates to giant grains of single crystals of chromium and to a process for producing the same. Although chromium has excellent corrosion and heat resistance, it is at present only used as an additive for making alloys. Chromium has not entered into use as a single substance except as a target material for sputtering. The main reason is the brittleness of chromium which is attributed to brittleness at the grain boundaries, and plastic processing of chromium is therefore very difficult. It has been virtually impossible to obtain chromium moldings in complex shapes because of the production of such moldings in practice has to rely on processes having poor yield, for example discharge processing and wire cutting. The problem of brittleness at the grain boundaries of a metal such as chromium can be overcome by providing single crystals in which there are no such boundaries. A method for forming single crystals of metals, for example molybdenum has been disclosed in JP-A-59-141498 and employs recrystallization. This method relies as an essential condition for the formation of single crystals on the addition of an additive called a pinning element (e.g. CaO or MgO) to a single crystal component, and strict quantitative control of the amount of the pinning element added is required. Apparently a currently widespread method for obtaining single crystals of chromium is the floating zone method. However, this method suffers from the problems that the productivity per unit time is limited, the available products are limited in shape to a bar of relatively small diameter, and the apparatus required is very complicated. It has been extremely difficult to obtain chromium as single crystals of relatively larger size or complex shape. By the ability to obtain easily large sized chromium single crystals of optional shape, the problem of poor yields which results from present processing techniques would be overcome, and application to electronic parts in which moldings having a relatively complicated shape are required could be expected, thus considerably broadening the range of uses for chromium. The present inventors have conducted extensive studies on the preparation of chromium single crystals by a secondary recrystallization, paying attention to the behaviour of impurities present in the chromium component, e.g. Ti, Al, Si and Ca. They have noted that these impurities exert a favourable influence on the formation of chromium single crystals and have found that chromium single crystal formation can be achieved by first sintering chromium containing at least one of these impurities as an unavoidable component, chromium to which at least one element selected from Ti, Al and Ca has been added in a defined range, or chromium to which these have been added and which further contains cobalt, and then subjecting the sintered material to heat treatment under relatively mild conditions, i.e. secondary recrystallization. The present invention provides a process for producing giant grains or single crystals of chromium as defined in claim 1. EP-A-0342992 (Tosoh) discloses a method for producing a single crystal of chromium by sintering a chromium molding to thereby apply a thermal strain to it, and heat treating the resulting thermally strained chromium molding. The method achieves high efficiency of crystal growth and produces a single crystal chromium molding of complicated shape. The present inventors have further found it that a molding obtained by sintering the above described chromium material and subjecting the sintered material to plastic processing is used, subsequent heat treatment can be carried out under relatively mild conditions. The giant grains referred to in the present application behave in substantially the same way as an aggregate of relatively large single crystals. Refining of metallic chromium is performed by process such as reducing smelting and electrolytic refining. Chromium ores which are used as raw materials in these processes contain components such as Fe, Al, Si, Ni, and Cu in addition to chromium. Chromium obtained by the electrolytic refining process, which is considered to give the industrially highest purity, still contains impurities as it is in the obtained state, such as 20 to 1,000 ppm of Fe, 1 to 20 ppm of Al, 30 to 600 ppm of Si, 1 to 20 ppm of Ti, and 1 to 100 ppm of Ca. In the present invention, though it is preferred to use chromium obtained by the electrolytic refining process from the standpoint of the purity of the obtained product, it is also suitable to use chromium obtained by the usual reducing smelting process in which chromium and other components are mixed in predetermined amounts in the oxide state and then metallized. In the present invention, as a method for adding necessary amounts of the additives to the chromium component, there is a method in which the additives are previously added to the chromium component for obtaining chromium, such as chromium oxide. This method is preferred in the present invention. However, the addtion may be effected by any method as long as incorporation of other impurities may be prevented and a uniform composition may be obtained. An amount of the additives to the chromium component is from 0.0002 wt% as oxides of the additives (this amount showing an amount of the additives to be added) as a lower limit to 0.1 wt% as oxides in chromium as an upper limit. Amounts less than 0.0002 wt% produce no significant effect of addition of the additives, and amounts exceeding 0.1 wt% cause excessive pinning effects of chromium boundaries, making it difficult to produce a single crystal. Since the above-described additives, even added within the range of from 0.0002 wt% to 0.1 wt% (as oxides in any case), may sometimes be locally precipitated in chromium, amounts not exceeding 0.03 wt% are preferred. There is no particular restriction concerning the method of incorporating the Co component into the chromium component. Co may be added to chromium directly or at any stage of the metallization of chromium as far as the chromium contains a predetermined amount of Co at the sintering of chromium. The content of Co is from 0.01 to 3 wt%. Amounts of Co less than 0.01 wt% produce no significant effect of addition, and amounts exceeding 3 wt% adversely affect single crystal formation of chromium. Further, the amounts of other components to be used in combination with Co are the same as described above. In the present invention, the presence of Co makes the subsequent heat treatment condition milder. This is believed ascribable to the catalytic effect of Co in recrystallization of chromium. Chromium which is used as a raw material in the process of the present invention is the chromium as described above and is formed into a usual powdered state and sintered. Sintering is conducted according to any of commonly employed techniques, such as burning and hot isostatic pressing (HIP), so that the sintered material may undergo thermal strain. The sintering temperature is usually 1,200°C or higher but not higher than the melting point of chromium, the sintering time, though not particularly limited, is ten or more minutes, and the sintering pressure is preferably 10 8 Pa (1,000 atms). or more. The shape of the sintered material can be controlled by properly selecting the mold container to be used for sintering. Further, it is possible to produce a sintered material (molding) having a relatively complicated shape through pre-molding prior to the heat treatment. In the process of the present invention, the molding thus obtained by sintering can be subjected to plastic processing thereby making the subsequent heat treatment condition milder. In this case, the plastic processing is not particularly restricted and includes generally employed methods, for example, rolling, forging, pressing and extrusion working. For example, rolling is carried out at about 700°C or lower at a rolling rate of from 30 to 90%. The thus obtained chromium molding is then subjected to heat treatment (secondary recrystallization). This heat treatment is carried out at a temperature of 1,300°C or higher but lower than the melting point of chromium (1,860°C), preferably for 30 minutes or more in a reducing atmosphere such as a hydrogen atmosphere, though these conditions vary depending on whether the sintered chromium has been subjected to plastic processing or the kind of additives to be added to chromium. In cases of using chromium containing Co as described above, the heat treatment can be effected at relatively low temperatures (1,300°C). If the heat treatment temperature is lower than 1,300°C, the single crystal formation of chromium is insufficient. The chromium obtained by the above-described heat treatment is a single crystal and can be confirmed by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. BEST MODES IN PRACTICING THE INVENTION Now, the present invention is described with reference to the following examples, but it should not be construed to be limiting the scope of the invention. EXAMPLE 1 Chromium oxide to which an oxide(s) to be added had been added in an amount of up to 0.2 wt% as shown in the table by a wet method was reduced in hydrogen at 1,550°C for 10 hours to obtain metallic chromium which was thereafter sintered by a hot isostatic pressing method to obtain ingots. The sintering conditions are from 1,200 to 1,300°C for the temperature, from 1.2-2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 to 2,000 atms). for the pressure and one hour for the time, respectively. Each of the sintered materials was hot rolled at 500°C at from 30 to 90%, and the obtained rolled material was cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,500°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the content of additives in chromium (Table 1). Amount of Addition (ppm) Crystal State Ti Al Ca 0 0 0 Fine grains 10 0 0 Partly giant grains 0 20 0 Partly giant grains 0 50 0 Giant grains 0 0 30 Partly giant grains 10 0 30 Single crystal EXAMPLE 2 Ingots obtained in the same manner as in Example 1 (sintering temperature: from 1,100 to 1,300°C) were each cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,600°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the content of additives in chromium (Table 2). Amount of Addition (ppm) Crystal State Ti Al Ca 0 0 0 Fine grains 10 0 0 Partly giant grains 0 20 0 Partly giant grains 0 50 0 Fine grains 0 0 30 Partly giant grains 10 0 30 Single crystal EXAMPLE 3 Ingots obtained in the same manner as in Example 2 were each rolled at 500°C at a rolling rate of from 30 to 90%, cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm, and then subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,500°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the content of additives in chromium (Table 3). Amount of Addition (ppm) Crystal State Ti Al Ca 0 0 0 Fine grains 10 0 0 Partly giant grains 0 20 0 Partly giant grains 0 50 0 Giant grains 0 0 30 Giant grains 10 0 30 Single crystal (Co content: 0.1 wt%, Sintering temperature: 1,250°C, Sintering pressure: 1.5 x 10 8 Pa, 1,500 atms.) EXAMPLE 4 Chromium oxide to which TiO 2 had been added in an amount of up to 0.2 wt% as shown in Table 4 by a wet method was reduced in hydrogen at 1,550°C for 10 hours to obtain metallic chromium which was thereafter sintered by a hot isostatic pressing method to obtain ingots. The sintering conditions are from 1,200 to 1,300°C for the temperature, from 1.2-2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 to 2,000) atms. for the pressure and one hour for the time, respectively. Each of the sintered materials was hot rolled at 500°C at from 30 to 90%, and the obtained rolled material was cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,500°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the TiO 2 content in chromium (Table 4), the temperature and pressure at sintering (Table 5), and the rolling rate of sintered material (Table 6). For comparison, though chromium sintered at 1,000°C was heat treated as it was, the crystal state was a fine grain. The same procedures were followed to obtain rolled materials of chromium to which TiO 2 had been added. Each of the rolled materials was cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 7. Amount of Addition Crystal State 0 ppm Fine grains 2 ppm Giant grains 10 ppm Single crystal 50 ppm Single crystal 100 ppm Partly giant grains 1,000 ppm Partly giant grains 2,000 ppm Fine grains Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Fine grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal Rolling Rate Crystal State 30% Giant grains 50% Single crystal 60% Single crystal 70% Single crystal 90% Giant grains Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Fine grains 1,400°C Partly giant grains 1,500°C Single crystal 1,600°C Single crystal EXAMPLE 5 Chromium oxide to which TiO 2 had been added by a wet method so as to have a TiO 2 content of 10 ppm in a reduced material after reduction of chromium oxide and from 0.1 wt% to 5.0 wt% of cobalt oxide had been further added similarly was reduced in hydrogen at 1,550°C for 10 hours to obtain metallic chromium which was thereafter sintered by a hot isostatic pressing method to obtain ingots. The sintering conditions are from 1,200 to 1,300°C for the temperature, from 1,200 to 2,000 atms. for the pressure and one hour for the time, respectively. The ingot was cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,500°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the Co content in chromium (Table 8), TiO 2 content (Table 9), and the temperature and pressure at sintering (Table 10). EXAMPLE 6 Sintered materials obtained in the same procedures as in Example 5 were each cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 11. Co Content Crystal State 0.001 wt% Single crystal 0.01 wt% Single crystal 0.1 wt% Single crystal 1.0 wt% Single crystal 3.0 wt% Partly giant grains 5.0 wt% Fine grains Amount of Addition Crystal State 0 ppm Fine grains 2 ppm Giant grains 10 ppm Single crystal 50 ppm Single crystal 100 ppm Partly giant grains 1,000 ppm Partly giant grains 2,000 ppm Fine grains Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Fine grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Partly giant grains 1,400°C Giant grains 1,500°C Single crystal 1,600°C Single crystal EXAMPLE 7 Ingots obtained in the same manner as in Example 4 (sintering temperature: from 1,100 to 1,300°C) were each cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,600°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the TiO 2 content in chromium (Table 12) and the temperature and pressure at sintering (Table 13). EXAMPLE 8 Sintered materials obtained in the same procedures as in Example 7 were each cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 14. Amount of Addition Crystal State 0 ppm Fine grains 2 ppm Giant grains 10 ppm Single crystal 50 ppm Single crystal 100 ppm Partly giant grains 1,000 ppm Partly giant grains 2,000 ppm Fine grains Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Fine grains 1,400°C Fine grains 1,500°C Partly giant grains 1,600°C Single crystal EXAMPLE 9 Ingots obtained in the same manner as in Example 8 were each rolled at 500°C at a rolling rate of from 30 to 90%, cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm, and then subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,500°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The crystal state of chromium is shown along with the Co content in chromium (Table 15), the TiO 2 content (Table 16, the temperature and pressure at sintering (Table 17), and the rolling rate (Table 18). EXAMPLE 10 Rolled materials obtained in the same procedures as in Example 9 were each cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 10 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 19. Co Content Crystal State 0.001 wt% Single crystal 0.01 wt% Partly giant grains 0.1 wt% Single crystal 1.0 wt% Single crystal 3.0 wt% Partly giant grains 5.0 wt% Fine grains (TiO 2 content: 10 ppm, Sintering temperature: 1,250°C, Sintering pressure: 1.5 x 10 8 Pa, (1,500 atms.) Amount of Addition Crystal State 0 ppm Fine grains 2 ppm Giant grains 10 ppm Single crystal 50 ppm Single crystal 100 ppm Partly giant grains 1,000 ppm Partly giant grains 2,000 ppm Fine grains (Co content: 0.1 wt%, Sintering temperature: 1,250°C, Sintering pressure: 1,500 atms.) Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Fine grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal (Si content: 80 ppm, Co content: 0.1 wt%) Rolling Rate Crystal State 0% Fine grains 10% Fine grains 30% Single crystal 50% Single crystal 60% Single crystal 70% Giant grains 80% Giant grains 90% Partly giant grains (Ti content: 10 ppm, Co content: 0.1 wt%, Sintering temperature: 1,250°C, Sintering pressure: 1.5 x 10 8 Pa, 1,500 atms.) Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Partly giant grains 1,400°C Giant grains 1,500°C Single crystal 1,600°C Single crystal EXAMPLE 11 High-purity chromium obtained by the electrolytic refining process was sintered by a hot isostatic pressing method. Chemical analysis of the chromium as used herein reveals as follows. Cr: 99.98 wt%, Si: 80 ppm, Ti: 10 ppm, Al: 10 ppm, Ca: 20 ppm The sintering conditions are from 1,200 to 1,300°C for the temperature, one hour for the time and from 1,200 to 2,000 atms. for the pressure, respectively. Each of the sintered materials was cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,600°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The influences of the temperature and pressure at sintering against the growth of crystal grains are shown in Table 20. For comparison, the crystal state of one sintered at 1,000°C is also given in the same table. EXAMPLE 12 Sintered materials obtained in the same procedures as in Example 11 were each cut into the same size and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 21 Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Fine grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Fine grains 1,400°C Fine grains 1,500°C Partly giant grains 1,600°C Single crystal EXAMPLE 13 Sintered materials obtained in the same manner as in Example 11 were each hot rolled at 500°C at 60%, cut into a size of 200 mm x 50 mm x 50 mm, and then subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at 1,600°C for 3 hours to obtain a single crystal of chromium. This was confirmed to be a single crystal by the X-ray back reflection Laue method. The influences of the temperature and pressure at sintering against the crystal growth are shown in Table 22. For comparison, though one sintered at 1,000°C was heat treated as it was, the recrystallized state was a fine grain. EXAMPLE 14 Rolled materials obtained in the same procedures as in Example 13 were each cut into the same size and subjected to heat treatment in a hydrogen atmosphere at from 1,200 to 1,600°C for 3 hours. The relation between the heat treatment temperature and the crystal grain growth is shown in Table 23. Temperature Pressure Crystal State 1,000°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Fine grains 1,200°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Giant grains 1,300°C 1.8 x 10 8 Pa (1,800 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 1.2 x 10 8 Pa (1,200 atms). Partly giant grains 1,300°C 1.6 x 10 8 Pa (1,600 atms). Single crystal 1,300°C 2 x 10 8 Pa (2,000 atms). Single crystal Heat Treatment Temperature Crystal State 1,200°C Fine grains 1,300°C Fine grains 1,400°C Partly giant grains 1,500°C Single crystal grains 1,600°C Single crystal POSSIBILITY FOR APPLICATION IN INDUSTRY In accordance to the process of the present invention, giant grains or single crystals of chromium having an arbitrary shape can be produced with good efficiency, and it is possible to produce moldings having a complicated shape from the obtained giant grains or single crystals of chromium. Furthermore, if chromium sintered materials are subjected to plastic processing, it is possible to carry out secondary recrystallization under a relatively mild condition.

Claims: A process for producing giant grains or single crystals of chromium, which comprises heat treating, at a temperature of 1300°C or higher but lower than the melting point of chromium, a chromium molding to which at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Al, and Ca has been added in an amount of from 0.0002 wt% as a lower limit to 0.1 wt% as an upper limit, calculated as an oxide thereof, or a chromium molding which contains Co in an amount of from 0.01 wt% to 3 wt% and to which at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, Al, and Ca has been added in an amount of from 0.0002 wt% as a lower limit to 0.1 wt% as an upper limit, calculated as an oxide thereof, each chromium molding having a strain imparted thereto by sintering, and the aforesaid amounts being the sum total of the additives. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein a chromium molding which has been sintered and subjected to plastic processing is heat treated. A process as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein a molding which has been sintered and molded by a pressing method is heat treated.

Inventors: HANAWA KOICHI, KUNIYA TSUTOMU, SEKINE SHINJI, TANAKA HIROSHI, HANAWA, KOICHI, KUNIYA, TSUTOMU, SEKINE, SHINJI, TANAKA, HIROSHI
Applicants: TOSOH CORP, TOSOH CORPORATION
Application year: 1990
Main classification: C22C27
IPC codes: C22C27, C22C1, C30B29, C30B1, C30B13