Study on electrochemical preparation of Al-Li-Y alloys from Y2O3 in LiCl-KCl-AlCl3 molten salts

The electrochemical preparaton of Al-Li-Y alloys from LiCl-KCl-AlCl3-Y2O3 system was studied. The chlorination of Y2O3 by AlCl3 led to the formation of Y (III) ions in the molten salts. Cyclic voltammogram (CV) showed that the underpotential deposition (UPD) of yttrium on pre-deposited aluminum caused the formation of Al-Y alloy. Al-Li-Y alloys with different yttrium contents were obtained by galvanostatic electrolysis and analysed by SEM-EDS and ICP. The ICP results showed that the lithium and yttrium contents in Al-Li-Y alloys depended on the addition of AlCl3 into the melts.