Abstract:The distribution rules of impurities in distilled terbium metal were investigated by vacuum distillation purification experiment and theoretical analysis. It is found that Ti impurity in distilled terbium is 220 mg/kg in the initial stage of the distillation purification, increases slowly in the middle stage, and increases rapidly in the last stage, reaching 2260 mg/kg, and the modified separation coefficient of Ti is 1/19.02. The diffusion of the impurity Ti in liquid metal can reach a quasi-equilibrium state in the initial stage of distillation purification and the calculated results agree well with experimental results; the distribution profile of impurity Cu is opposite to Ti, being 380 mg/kg in the initial stage, decreasing linearly to 290 mg/kg in the last stage, and the modified separation coefficient is 17.99, and the theoretical calculated results are inconsistent with the experimental result.

Key words: vacuum distillation purification; modified separation coefficient; terbium metal; impurity distribution; liquid metal