Effect of Electrical Conductivity and Porosity of Cathode on Electro-Deoxidation Process of Ilmenite Concentrate

The performance of the cathode is always closely related to the electro-deoxidation process and its current efficiency. In this work, the effect of sintering temperature on the electrical resistivity of an ilmenite concentrate cathode was measured. The results show that the sintering temperature has a significant effect on the electrical conductivity of the cathode. The electrical resistivity of the ilmenite concentrate cathode decreases with increasing of the sintering temperature and increasing of the contact area. Besides, the influence of the cathode porosity on electrochemical process during preparation of Ti-Fe alloy in molten salt was studied. The results also reveal that the porosity of ilmenite concentrate cathode directly affects the electro-deoxidation process. The increasing of porosity is beneficial to the formation of intermediate product (CaTiO3) and improvement of the current efficiency.