High temperature oxidation kinetics of dysprosium particles

Rare earth elements have been recognized as critical materials for the advancement of many strategic and green technologies. Recently, the United States Department of Energy has invested many millions of dollars to enhance, protect, and forecast their production and management. The work presented here attempts to clarify the limited and contradictory literature on the oxidation behavior of the rare earth metal, dysprosium. Dysprosium particles were isothermally oxidized from 500 to 1000 °C in N2-(2%, 20%, and 50%) O2 and Ar-20% O2 using simultaneous thermal analysis techniques. Two distinct oxidation regions were identified at each isothermal temperature in each oxidizing atmosphere. Initially, the oxidation kinetics are very fast until the reaction enters a slower, intermediate region of oxidation. The two regions are defined and the kinetics of each are assessed to show an apparent activation energy of 8-25 kJ/mol in the initial region and 80-95 kJ/mol in the intermediate oxidation reaction region. The effects of varying the oxygen partial pressure on the reaction rate constant are used to show that dysprosium oxide (Dy2O3) generally acts as a p-type semiconductor in both regions of oxidation (with an exception above 750 °C in the intermediate region).