Method of producing high-melting-point and high-toughness metal and apparatus for the same

A method of producing a high-melting-point and high-toughness metal, comprising:

• reducing a high-melting-point and high-toughness metal chloride with an activated metal to form a high-melting-point and high-toughness sponge metal in a reducing vessel arranged sideways relative to a condensing vessel, wherein the condensing vessel is contained in a cooling jacket and integrally connected to the reducing vessel through a conduit at least one of the reducing vessel and/or the condensing vessel is supported so as to move with thermal expansion of said conduit;
• and measuring a weight-change of the vessel supported so as to move with thermal expansion of the conduit to estimate the degree of progress of a separating and recovering process on the basis of the detected weight-change, when nonreacted activated metal and its chloride remaining in the sponge metal formed in the reducing vessel are recovered into the condensing vessel by vacuum separation.

A method of producing a high-melting-point and high-toughness metal, comprising:

• reducing a high-melting-point and high toughness metal chloride with an activated metal to form a high-melting-point and high-toughness sponge metal in a reducing vessel arranged sideways relative to a condensing vessel, wherein the condensing vessel is integrally connected to the reducing vessel through a conduit, and at least one of the reducing vessel and the condensing vessel is supported so as to move with thermal expansion of said conduit, the other being supported through a weight sensor;
• and measuring a weight-change of the vessel supported through said weight sensor by means of the weight sensor to estimate the degree of progress of a separating and recovering process on the basis of the detected weight-change when nonreacted activated metal and its chloride remaining in the sponge metal formed in the reducing vessel are recovered into the condensing vessel by vacuum separation.