For more than 50 years, Youyan Rare Earth and its predecessors have been committed to the research and industrial development of rare earth smelting technology. They have carried out a series of basic research and technological research on various types of rare earth resources, including Baotou mixed rare earth ore, bastnaesite ore and southern ion adsorption rare earth ore, and developed more than 40 smelting and separation technologies with independent intellectual property rights, most of which have been widely used in rare earth industrial production. Four of them won the National Science Conference Award, and 1 1 won the second and third prizes of national invention and national scientific and technological progress. The process of preparing high-purity europium oxide by reducing alkalinity with zinc powder developed in 1960s has been widely used in China, and about 90% of high-purity europium oxide is produced by this method. The process of smelting Baotou rare earth ore with sulfuric acid developed in 1970s and 1980s has been popularized and applied in large rare earth enterprises such as Gansu Rare Earth Company, Rare Earth Hi-Tech (Baotou Rare Earth No.3 Factory) and Baotou No.202 Factory, and more than 80% of Baotou rare earth ore is produced with this patented technology. P507-HCl continuous extraction, semi-countercurrent stripping separation of rare earth, P507 total separation process in hydrochloric acid system, preparation of fluorescent yttrium oxide by naphthenic acid extraction, preparation of ultra-pure europium oxide by electrolytic reduction and other technologies have all been applied in rare earth industry, among which the preparation technology of fluorescent yttrium oxide transferred to Germany became the first rare earth technology project transferred to China.
Since the Tenth Five-Year Plan, in view of the serious pollution of "three wastes" and the low utilization rate of associated resources in the process of rare earth smelting and separation, a new green smelting and separation technology has been developed, and the original technology of "extraction, separation and purification of rare earth without saponification" has been successfully developed. In the process of extraction and separation, the organic phase does not need saponification, and ammonia or liquid alkali is not used, which eliminates the pollution of ammonia nitrogen wastewater to the environment from the source and greatly reduces the separation cost. This technology has applied for 8 domestic invention patents and 60 international invention patents.
* * * In this field, he won 32 national and provincial awards and applied for 26 national invention patents, of which 8 were authorized. Since the Tenth Five-Year Plan, * * * has undertaken more than ten national key scientific and technological programs, 973 programs, 863 programs and national natural science foundation projects. The main research directions in this field include:
(1) Clean production process of rare earth smelting.
⑵ Efficient and pollution-free rare earth separation and purification technology.
⑶ Comprehensive utilization technology of rare earth associated resources
⑷ Recycling technology of wastewater from rare earth smelting and separation.
5. Rare earth metallurgical process control technology
Development of engineering equipment for rare earth smelting and separation.
Rare earth metals and alloys
Youyan Rare Earth and its predecessors have been engaged in the research and development of high-purity rare earth metals and their alloys for nearly 50 years, and are one of the earliest units engaged in the preparation and purification of rare earth metals and their alloys in China. In the early 1960s, China prepared 16 kinds of rare earth metals except promethium for the first time, and gradually realized mass production. 1968, promethium was successfully prepared. It has made outstanding contributions to the establishment and improvement of China's rare earth industrial system.
In recent years, a lot of fruitful work has been done in the R&D and industrialization of high-purity rare earth metals, rapidly solidified rare earth alloys and cheap rare earth magnesium (aluminum) master alloys: 1) Three technologies independently developed, namely low-temperature reduction (master alloy method), reduction distillation and vacuum distillation purification, have been industrialized, forming a number of technologies and large-scale equipment that have reached the international advanced level, and on this basis, Asia has been built. 2) The process of preparing rare earth-magnesium (aluminum) master alloy by oxide electrolysis was successfully developed, and the polarization overpotential precipitation method was creatively proposed. The method takes oxides as raw materials, balances the precipitation potentials of rare earth and magnesium (aluminum) through dual polarization of concentration polarization and anodic polarization, and obtains rare earth magnesium (aluminum) master alloy by one-step electrolysis, which can greatly reduce the processing cost of rare earth magnesium (aluminum) master alloy.
* * * Received national and provincial awards 13 in this field, and applied for national invention patents 12, of which 4 were authorized. During the Eighth Five-Year Plan to the Tenth Five-Year Plan, * * undertook more than ten national key scientific and technological projects, the 973 plan and the demonstration projects of the National Development and Reform Commission. The main research directions include:
Purification technology and equipment of (1) (ultra) high purity rare earth metals.
⑵ Preparation of cheap rare earth magnesium (aluminum) master alloy
⑶ Rapid solidification casting technology and equipment for rare earth alloys.
(4) Other special alloys and targets
rare earth compounds
Since the 1970s, Youyan Rare Earth and its predecessors started with rare earth polishing materials, studied the preparation technology of rare earth compound materials, took the lead in developing a series of polishing materials production technologies in China, finalized a series of rare earth polishing products such as "739" and "77 1", and successively transferred technology to Gansu Rare Earth Company and other enterprises, laying a solid technical foundation for building China's rare earth polishing industrial system. During the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, with the support of relevant national science and technology projects, the research on high-end rare earth polishing materials for LCD screens and the industrial technology development of rare earth polishing powder for LCD screens were carried out, and passed the appraisal of scientific and technological achievements at the ministerial level.
With the wide application of rare earth in superconducting materials, luminescent materials, fuel cells, catalytic materials, coating materials, magnetic materials, shielding materials, electronic ceramics and other new materials, the market puts forward strict requirements for physical parameters such as morphology, particle size and distribution, specific surface area, density, pore volume, pore size and crystal form of rare earth compound powder materials. Youyan Rare Earth combines soft chemical synthesis techniques such as chemical precipitation method, hydrothermal method, sol-gel method and alcohol salt method with extraction technology, surface modification technology, pipeline synthesis technology, crystal form control technology and post-treatment technology, forming a controllable preparation technology of rare earth compounds with industrial application prospects. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, we undertook the research and development tasks of projects such as "preparation technology and industrial development of controllable yttrium oxide with large specific surface area", and established batch production lines through the identification of results. At the same time, according to the demand of rare earth enterprises, a series of application technologies such as precipitation purification and impurity removal technology, sodium carbonate precipitation rare earth technology and radioactive removal technology have been developed.
Youyan Rare Earth has applied for 1 1 national invention patents in the field of rare earth compounds, four of which have been authorized, and its main research interests include:
(1) high performance rare earth polishing material and its preparation technology.
⑵ Preparation technology of rare earth luminescent material precursor
(3) Preparation process of rare earth oxides and hydroxides with large specific surface area
(4) Preparation process of nanometer and submicron rare earth compounds
5] Functional additives such as rare earth plastics and ceramics.
[6] Rare earth surface chemical treatment agent
(7) Composite rare earth compound synthesis technology and equipment.
Rare earth functional materials
The research and development of luminescent materials includes rare earth and its predecessors, and has been engaged in the research and development of luminescent materials for more than 30 years. It is one of the earliest units engaged in the research and development of rare earth phosphors in China, and has the only "rare earth phosphor intermediate laboratory" in China, equipped with advanced and complete instruments and equipment required for the research and development of luminescent materials.
In the 1970s, the company began to develop CRT color TV phosphors and rare earth tricolor phosphors for lamps, and in the 1980s, it developed PYG flying-spot scanning phosphors, and made many achievements in anode ray phosphors, photoluminescent rare earth phosphors and X-ray rare earth phosphors, among which "rare earth red phosphors for color TV and rare earth white phosphors for projection TV" won the National Science Conference Award, and red sulfur oxide powder for color TV was the national standard powder; The research and development of nearly 20 kinds of rare earth luminescent materials, such as PYG flying spot scanning phosphor, won provincial and ministerial awards or passed provincial and ministerial appraisal.
In order to meet the development needs of flat panel display, green lighting and other application fields, we have developed luminescent materials for flat panel display such as PDP and FED, and luminescent materials for lamps such as LED, HID, CCFL and metal halide lamps, and undertaken many national projects 10, such as the National Key Science and Technology Plan, the 863 Plan, the 973 Plan and the National Natural Science Foundation. Most of the research results of this project have been industrialized in rare earth research, and the tricolor phosphor technology for lamps has also been transferred to many enterprises for large-scale production. "Key Technologies of Phosphor Industrialization of Color Plasma Display Panel (PDP)" won the first prize of ministerial science and technology, and "Research on Multicolor Rare Earth Long Afterglow Luminescent Materials and Its Preparation Technology" won the second prize of ministerial science and technology.
At the same time, Tomohiko Rare Earth is also actively committed to solving the characterization problem of domestic luminescent materials. For example, together with relevant units * * *, we have developed the first domestic testing equipment for the luminescent properties of PDP phosphors and the first domestic testing equipment for the luminescent properties of FED phosphors. The successful development of these devices has greatly promoted the research and development of corresponding phosphors in China.
Youyan Rare Earth applied for 24 invention patents (including 3 international patents) in the field of luminescent materials, of which 15 has been authorized. The main research directions include:
(1) luminescent materials for display: fluorescent materials for PDP and fluorescent materials for FED.
⑵ Luminous materials for lighting: white LED, CCFL and fluorescent materials for metal halide lamps.
⑶ Special luminescent materials: up-conversion luminescent materials, anti-counterfeiting fluorescent materials and nano luminescent materials.
Catalytic and environmental materials
In the 1970s, Youyan Rare Earth and its predecessors took the lead in developing rare earth catalysts for automobile exhaust purification in China, and then successfully developed rare earth catalysts for automobile exhaust purification close to the world advanced level at that time, which were produced and sold on a large scale, opening up new applications of domestic rare earth catalytic materials in the environment. 1992, entrusted by the state, the industry standard of Rare Earth Catalyst for Automobile Exhaust Purification (No.XB/T503-93) was compiled, which contributed to standardizing the industrial production of rare earth catalyst for automobile exhaust in China.
During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period, we undertook and completed the research and development work on mesoporous rare earth composite oxides with large specific surface area and its application in environmental protection, and the industrial preparation process of high-temperature stable cerium-zirconium composite oxides, etc., and made breakthroughs in key technologies, formed a complete industrial preparation technology of cerium-zirconium composite oxides, and built a pilot production line with an annual output of 50 tons. At present, he is undertaking the national "863" plan project-"Study on Pollution Control Technology of Gasoline Vehicle in Cold Start".
Youyan Rare Earth has advanced catalyst preparation and performance evaluation equipment in this field; Equipped with rotary evaporator, programmed heating furnace, gas chromatography detection system, specific surface meter, particle size analyzer, etc. It can meet the preparation and performance test of various rare earth catalysts. Five national invention patents have been declared in this field, and the main research directions include:
(1) Three-way catalyst for automobile exhaust purification
⑵ Control technology of automobile cold start exhaust pollution.
(3) Cerium-zirconium solid solution additives and carrier materials.
(4) Catalytic materials for natural gas combustion
5. Volatile organic waste gas (VOCs) catalytic purification materials.
[6] Rare earth modified methane catalytic hydrogen production materials.
Magnetic effect material
Youyan Rare Earth and its predecessors have been engaged in the research and development of rare earth magnetic effect materials for more than 30 years, and it is one of the earliest units engaged in the research and development of rare earth permanent magnets and magnetostrictive materials in China. Among them, the samarium-cobalt alloy magnet prepared by reduction and diffusion method was successfully transferred to Shanghai Yuelong Chemical Plant, and the samarium-cobalt magnetic ring produced was first used in Dongfanghong series satellites, which made an important contribution to the development of China's space industry.
Since the Tenth Five-Year Plan, high-performance NdFeB alloy thin strip continuous casting technology and key equipment with independent intellectual property rights have been successfully developed, and four national invention patents have been obtained, breaking Japan's technological monopoly in this field. Based on this patented technology, Yanyan Rare Earth and Sumitomo Special Metals (now controlled by Hitachi Metals) and other companies jointly established Langfang Kansai Magnetic Materials Company, with Yanyan Rare Earth accounting for 66% of the shares.
The one-step preparation technology of low-cost and large-diameter rare earth giant magnetostrictive materials was successfully developed, and the prepared rare earth giant magnetostrictive materials were supplied to military units in batches, with good results. A new type of magnetoresistance material was developed, and a spin valve type full perovskite manganese oxide giant magnetoresistance tunnel junction was prepared by using thin film composite technology and advanced micromachining technology, and its magnetoresistance change rate reached the international leading level. At present, there are various devices for preparing and testing magnetic effect materials.
In this field, * * * has undertaken more than 20 projects, such as joint military-civilian construction, national science and technology support plan, 863 plan, innovation fund for small and medium-sized enterprises, national natural science fund and Beijing natural science fund. He applied for 32 national invention patents and 9 authorized patents, and published more than 30 academic papers at home and abroad. Won the third prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award 1, the first prize of Beijing Science and Technology Award 1, the first prize of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Science and Technology Award 1, and the third prize 1.