PRODUCTION OF ALLOY CONTAINING RARE EARTH METAL BY USING REDUCTION-DIFFUSION PROCESS

PURPOSE:To produce a rare earth metal alloy having a uniform composition in superior raw-material yield by wetting a powder mixture of a rare earth oxide, metallic Ca as reducing agent, and an alloy material by an aromatic alcohol and performing heating and reduction in an inert gas atmosphere. CONSTITUTION:A powder mixture consisting of an oxide of rare earth element, metallic Ca as reducing agent for this oxide, and Fe, etc., as alloy material is wetted by the addition of an aromatic alcohol, such as methanol, ethanol, and propanol, which is placed in a vessel made of stainless steel. Then, heating is applied to the above in an inert gas atmosphere or in vacuum to refine an alloy, such as Fe alloy containing rare earth metal. The resulting reduction product is treated with pure water and disintegrated, by which Ca remaining in the product and CaO formed as a by-product are separated and removed. By this method, the high purity alloy in which rare earth metal is uniformly dispersed can be produced in superior rare earth metal yield.