Santoku Corporation

Hiroaki Takata

Toshio Irie

Yukihiro Yokoyama

Akira Neoda

Hiroshi Miyamoto

Eiji Nakamura

Takehiko Kikkawa

Yutaka Oka

Junichi Nakagawa

There is provided a method for producing a magnetic refrigeration module. The method comprises: a step (1) of preparing a mixture powder A containing an La(Fe,Si)-based alloy powder, an M powder, and optionally an organic binder, the La(Fe,Si)-based alloy powder having a main phase with an NaZn-type crystal structure, and the M powder containing a metal and/or an alloy and having a melting point of 1090&#xb0; C. or lower; a step (2) of subjecting the mixture powder A to a heat treatment in a reducing atmosphere at a temperature close to the melting point of the M powder to obtain a sintered body B; and a step (3) of subjecting the sintered body B to a hydrogenation treatment in a hydrogen-containing atmosphere.

Manufacturing method for magnetic freezing module

Provided is a magnetic refrigeration material which has a Curie temperature near room temperature or higher, and provides refrigeration performance well over that of conventional materials when subjected to a field change up to 2 Tesla, which is assumed to be achievable with a permanent magnet. The magnetic refrigeration material is of a composition represented by the formula LaRE(FeSiCOXYZ)(RE: at least one of rare earth elements including Sc and Y and excluding La; X: Ga and/or Al; Y: at least one of Ge, Sn, B, and C; Z: at least one of Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Zr; 0.03&#x2266;a&#x2266;0.17, 0.003&#x2266;b&#x2266;0.06, 0.02&#x2266;c&#x2266;0.10, 0&#x2266;d&#x2266;0.04, 0&#x2266;e&#x2266;0.04, 0&#x2266;f&#x2266;0.50), and has Tc of not lower than 220 K and not higher than 276 K, and the maximum (&#x2212;&#x394;S) of magnetic entropy change (&#x2212;&#x394;S) of the material when subjected to a field change up to 2 Tesla is not less than 5 J/kgK.

Magnetic refrigeration material

Provided is a safe and efficient method for producing lithium metal which facilitates efficient production of anhydrous lithium chloride without corrosion of the system materials by chlorine gas or molten lithium carbonate, and which allows production of lithium metal by molten salt electrolysis of the produced anhydrous lithium chloride as a raw material. The method includes the steps of (A) contacting and reacting lithium carbonate and chlorine gas in a dry process to produce anhydrous lithium chloride, and (B) subjecting the raw material for electrolysis containing the anhydrous lithium chloride to molten salt electrolysis under such conditions as to produce lithium metal, wherein the chlorine gas generated by the molten salt electrolysis in step (B) is used as the chlorine gas in step (A) to continuously perform steps (A) and (B).

Process for producing metallic lithium

The invention relates to a method for producing high-performance Cr&#x2014;Ti&#x2014;V hydrogen storage alloys utilizing a thermit process, whereby residence of adversely affecting impurities is inhibited, addition of not less than 10 at % of Ti as an alloy component is realized, and thermal burden on the crucible used in the method is reduced. The method includes the steps of: (A) providing an alloy material () comprising a Cr oxide, a V oxide, and a reducing agent Al, and an alloy material () comprising Ti; (B) placing the alloy materials in a crucible for thermit reduction so that the alloy material () is placed above the alloy material (); (C) igniting the alloy material () placed in step (B) and melting all metal elements contained in the alloy materials the with heat of the thermit reaction of the alloy material (); and (D) making the alloy melt obtained in step (C) into an alloy.

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Kobe, Japan

Hiroaki Takata