Das Projekt "Neue Materialien fuer Aluminium-Elektrolysezellen, die mittels selbstfortpflanzender Hochtemperatursynthese (SHS) hergestellt werden" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von W.C. Heraeus durchgeführt. General Information: The proposed research is directed at substituting the existing carbon components presently used in hall-heroult cells for aluminium production with non-carbon components produced by the SHS process. The SHS process is a method using a mixture of powdered precursor material which is pressed to yield a green body or is applied as a coating on top of a substrate. The reactor heat sinters the reaction products to form a body or a coating provided the compounds have sufficiently high heat of formation like carbides, borides and aluminide. The research is based on the following stages: - identification and selection of suitable materials; - optimization and control of the SHS process and manufacturing of small components: testing on small scale; - scaling-up of manufacturing capability; - testing on pilot cell scale of new components; - evaluation of benefits to the aluminium industry. The research will comprise the operation of a newly designed pilot cell for at least six months with non-carbon electrodes to produce aluminium with an industrially acceptable purity standard. The successful completion will result in a reduction of 20 per cent in the electric energy consumption and a saving of 100 ECU per ton of aluminium produced due to the cost reduction of the electrodes used. In addition there will be a greatly reduced environmental impact due to the elimination of the CO2 and fluoro-carbon emissions which are the consequence of the consumption of the carbon anodes presently used (consumption rate of 450 kg of carbon anodes per ton of aluminium produced). Achievements: The main objectives of the project were achieved. An aluminium wettable TiB2 coating was successfully developed by the Consortium for applying onto carbon substrates. The wettable cathode enabled the operation of a 5 kA pilot cell at Allures in the drained mode with no loss in current efficiency. The pilot cell tests demonstrated that the TiB2 coating is aluminium wettable, stable, abrasion resistant and can be incorporated into drained cell designs. The 5 kA pilot cell tests required extensive instrumentation for data acquisition, monitoring and management. A cell monitoring system was specially designed and installed by ENEA. Self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS), also known as combustion synthesis, was found to be an economical and efficient method for producing advanced materials such as intermetallics and ceramics. Green bodies are formed using conventional powder metallurgical processing and are subsequently brought to reaction, 'combustion', by introducing them into a preheated furnace. The heat released by the exothermic reaction causes simultaneous sintering of the combusted products, thereby avoiding long sintering times at high temperature as in conventional ceramic technology. Using SHS processing methods, TiB2/Al2O3 composite tiles and Ni-Al-Fe-Cu (nickel intermetallic alloy) anodes were successfully fabricated as new non-carbon electrodes