Ultrafine cobalt metal powder, process for the production thereof and use of the cobalt metal powder and of cobalt carbonate
AssigneeH. C. Starck GmbH
InventorsMatthias Höhne, Bernd Mende, Knut Eikemeyer
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Abstract
Ultrafine cobalt metal powder consisting of fine crystallites, wherein the crystallites, wherein the crystallitex exhibit a rice-grain shaped to spherical habit and more than 90% of the crystallites have a diameter in the range of from 0.5 to 2 μm, a process for the production of the cobalt metal powder via an intermediate stage of cobalt carbonate production, and processes and products re certain uses of the cobalt metal powder and the cobalt carbonate and an intermediate oxide so produced.
Claims8
A process for the production of an ultrafine cobalt metal powder comprising fine crystallites, wherein the crystallites exhibit a rice-grain shaped to spherical habit and more than 90 wt-% of the crystallites have a diameter in the range of from 0.5 μm to 2 μm, and wherein the powder has (i) a sodium content of less than 100 ppm and a carbon content of less than 500 ppm or (ii) a sodium content of less than 50 ppm and contents of calcium and sulfur respectively of less than 30 ppm, the process comprising:
- (a) reacting a soluble cobalt salt with a solution and/or a suspension of a material selected from the group consisting of alkali carbonate, alkaline-earth carbonate, cobalt carbonate, ammonium carbonate and the respective hydrogen carbonates of the foregoing, in the pH range of from 5.5 to 6.8 to form a cobalt carbonate precipitate,
- (b) separating off the precipitate formed, washing with water until the required purity is attained and dried, and
- (c) reducing the cobalt carbonate thus obtained to the cobalt metal powder.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.