Spin-off pyroprocessing technology and inert anode materials to replace the conventional carbon-based smelting process for critical materials were introduced. Efforts to select inert anode materials through numerical analysis and selected experimental results were devised for the high-throughput reduction of oxide feedstocks. The electrochemical properties of the inert anode material were evaluated, and stable electrolysis behavior and CaCu generation were observed during molten salt recycling. Thereafter, CuTi was prepared by reacting rutile (TiO2) with CaCu in a Ti crucible. The formation of CuTi was confirmed when the concentration of CaO in the molten salt was controlled at 7.5mol%. A laboratory-scale electrorefining study was conducted using CuTi(Zr, Hf) alloys as the anodes, with a Ti electrodeposit conforming to the ASTM B299 standard recovered using a pilot-scale electrorefining device.

Zirconium boride is an artificial or which is rarely found in the nature. ZrB2 is popular in the hard material industry because it has a high melting point, excellent mechanical properties and chemical stability. There are two known methods to synthesize ZrB2. The first involves direct reaction between Zr and B, and the second is by reduction of the metal halogen. However, these two methods are known to be unsuitable for mass production. SHS(Self-propagating High-temperature Synthesis) is an efficient and economic method for synthesizing hard materials because it uses exothermic reactions. In this study, ZrB2 was successfully synthesized by subjecting ZrO2, Mg and B2O3 to SHS. Because of the high combustion temperature and rapid combustion, in conjunction with the stoichiometric ratio of ZrO2, Mg and B2O3; single phase ZrB2 was not synthesized. In order to solve the temperature problem, Mg and NaCl additives were investigated as diluents. From the experiments it was found that both diluents effectively stabilized the reaction and combustion regime. The final product, made under optimum conditions, was single-phase ZrB2 of 0.1-0.9μm particle size.

Due to their unique properties, tungsten borides are good candidates for the industrial applications where certain features such as high hardness, chemical inertness, resistance to high temperatures, thermal shock and corrosion. In this study, conditions were investigated for producing tungsten boride powder from tungsten oxide(WO3) by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) followed by HCl leaching techniques. In the first stage of the study, the exothermicity of the WO3-Mg reaction was investigated by computer simulation. Based on the simulation experimental study was conducted and the SHS products consisting of borides and other compounds were obtained starting with different initial molar ratios of WO3, Mg and B2O3. It was found that WO3, Mg and B2O3 reaction system produced high combustion temperature and radical reaction so that diffusion between W and B was not properly occurred. Addition of NaCl and replacement of B2O3 with B successfully solved the diffusion problem. From the optimum condition tungsten boride(W2B and WB) powders which has 0.1~0.9 um particle size were synthesized.