PRODUCTION OF RARE EARTH CHLORIDE

PURPOSE:To facilitate operation, e.g. taking out from a drum, etc., make a rare earth chloride readily soluble in water and require a short time for producing an aqueous solution and little labor, by cooling and solidifying a molten rare earth chloride into a cylindrical or plate form and breaking the resultant solid. CONSTITUTION:A molten rare earth chloride is extruded through, e.g. a nozzle, and formed into a cylindrical shape by blowing cooling air from the side or extruded from a nozzle of a flat shape into a plate form, cooled and solidified into a plate shape by blowing cooling air form the side, etc., and the resultant cylindrical or plate solid is then broken in a pin crusher mill, etc., to produce a rare earth chloride in the form of small lumps. The resultant rare earth chloride has the following advantages; since the solubility is improved and the rare earth chloride is extremely readily soluble in water by crushing into small lumps, little time and labor required for producing an aqueous solution are sufficient. In taking out from a drum, special equipment is not required and handling is facilitated.