Reactive Materials for Evaporating Samarium

Different reactive materials were prepared and evaluated as potential heaters to evaporate refractory and readily ionized samarium metal. Fully dense, nanocomposite powders of thermites and boride-forming compounds were prepared using arrested reactive milling. In some samples, samarium powder was blended with the nanocomposite powders; in other samples samarium was added using an additional short milling step. Powders were pressed in pellets and ignited at a low pressure. Flame propagation was monitored optically; combustion products were collected and analyzed. It was observed that nanocomposite 2B-Ti powder, in which samarium was added via an additional milling step was most suitable for evaporating samarium, while preventing its reaction with other material components. Up to 30 wt-% of samarium could be added and most of it evaporated in the presented experiments.