Carsten Schwandt

Abstract:

The FFC-Cambridge process is a generic molten salt electrolytic method that was invented at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy of the University of Cambridge almost two decades ago. It makes possible the direct conversion of metal oxides into the corresponding metals through the cathodic polarisation of the oxide in a molten salt electrolyte based on calcium chloride [1]. The process is rather universal in its applicability, and numerous studies on metals, alloys and intermetallics have since been performed at the place of its invention and worldwide [2].
This presentation will first give an introduction into the fundamentals of the FFC-Cambridge process and will then feature some of the more recent and ongoing research lines. Their overarching theme is the harnessing of this process for the synthesis of multinary materials that are difficult to achieve via conventional metallurgical methods. Specific systems of interest include ultra-high-melting-point alloys and carbides [3,4], high-entropy alloys and carbides [5-7], biomedical alloys based on beta-titanium [8,9]. Also touched upon will be the possibility of the combined generation of metals and oxygen from lunar materials [10].