Methods for regenerating lithium-enriched salt baths

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11161781-B2
Application number	US-201816043442-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 24, 2018
Priority date	Nov 20, 2015
Publication date	Nov 2, 2021
Grant date	Nov 2, 2021

Abstract

Methods for regenerating poisoned salt bath comprising providing a salt bath comprising at least one of KNO3 and NaNO3, providing an ion-exchangeable substrate comprising lithium cations, contacting at least a portion of the ion-exchangeable substrate with the salt bath, whereby lithium cations in the salt bath diffuse from the ion-exchangeable substrate and are dissolved in the salt bath, and selectively precipitating dissolved lithium cations from the salt bath using phosphate salt. The methods further include preventing or reducing the formation of surface defects in the ion-exchangeable substrate by preventing or reducing the formation of crystals on the surface of the ion-exchangeable substrate upon removal from the salt bath.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for regenerating a salt bath comprising:
heating a salt bath comprising at least one of KNO 3 and NaNO 3 to a temperature of greater than or equal to 380° C.;
contacting at least a portion of a first ion-exchangeable substrate comprising lithium with the salt bath, whereby lithium cations diffuse from the ion-exchangeable substrate and are dissolved in the salt bath;
measuring a compressive stress of the first ion-exchangeable substrate after the first ion-exchangeable substrate is contacted with the salt bath;
contacting at least a portion of subsequent ion-exchangeable substrates comprising lithium with the salt bath, whereby lithium cations diffuse from the subsequent ion-exchangeable substrates and are dissolved in the salt bath;
measuring subsequent compressive stresses of the subsequent ion-exchangeable substrates after the subsequent ion-exchangeable substrates are contacted with the salt bath;
adding a phosphate salt to the salt bath when a compressive stress of a subsequent ion-exchangeable substrate is from 10 MPa to 70 MPa less than the compressive stress of the first ion-exchangeable substrate; and
selectively precipitating, before or between ion exchange cycles, dissolved lithium cations from the salt bath, wherein the concentration of dissolved lithium in the salt bath is greater than or equal to 0 wt % lithium and less than or equal to 2.0 wt % lithium, and wherein the concentration of lithium cations in the salt bath is greater than or equal to the concentration of phosphate salt in the bath.

2. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the ion-exchangeable substrate comprises greater than or equal to 2.0 mol % Li 2 O and less than or equal to 15 mol % Li 2 O.

3. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the dissolved lithium cations are selectively precipitated by reacting with the phosphate salt thereby forming at least one of insoluble Li 3 PO 4 , insoluble Li 2 NaPO 4 or insoluble LiNa 2 PO 4 .

4. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the phosphate salt is selected from the group consisting of Na 3 PO 4 , K 3 PO 4 , Na 2 HPO 4 , K 2 HPO 4 , Na 5 P 3 O 10 , K 5 P 3 O 10 , Na 2 H 2 P 2 O 7 , Na 4 P 2 O 7 , K 4 P 2 O 7 , Na 3 P 3 O 9 , K 3 P 3 O 9 , and combinations thereof.

5. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the phosphate salt is added to the salt bath as an encapsulated powder.

6. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the ion-exchangeable substrate comprises:
greater than or equal to 50 mol % SiO 2 and less than or equal to 80 mol % SiO 2 ;
greater than or equal to 0 mol % B 2 O 3 and less than or equal to 5 mol % B 2 O 3 ;
greater than or equal to 5 mol % Al 2 O 3 and less than or equal to 30 mol % Al 2 O 3 ;
greater than or equal to 2 mol % Li 2 O and less than or equal to 25 mol % Li 2 O;
greater than or equal to 0 mol % Na 2 O and less than or equal to 15 mol % Na 2 O;
greater than or equal to 0 mol % MgO and less than or equal to 5 mol % MgO;
greater than or equal to 0 mol % ZnO and less than or equal to 5 mol % ZnO;
greater than or equal to 0 mol % SnO 2 and less than or equal to 5 mol % SnO 2 ; and
greater than or equal to 0 mol % P 2 O 5 and less than or equal to 10 mol % P 2 O 5 .

7. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the ion-exchangeable substrate has a diffusion rate of less than or equal to 8,000 μm 2 /hr.

8. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the salt bath comprises greater than or equal to 75 mol % KNO 3 and less than or equal to 95 mol % KNO 3 , and greater than or equal to 5 mol % NaNO 3 and less than or equal to 25 mol % NaNO 3 .

9. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the salt bath comprises greater than or equal to 45 mol % KNO 3 and less than or equal to 67 mol % KNO 3 , and greater than or equal to 33 mol % NaNO 3 and less than or equal to 55 mol % NaNO 3 .

10. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 1 , wherein the salt bath comprises greater than or equal to 40 mol % KNO 3 and less than or equal to 95 mol % KNO 3 , and greater than or equal to 5 mol % NaNO 3 and less than or equal to 60 mol % NaNO 3 .

11. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 10 , wherein heating further comprises heating the salt bath to a temperature less than or equal to 450° C.

12. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 11 , further comprising:
removing the ion-exchangeable substrate from the salt bath; and
cooling the ion-exchangeable substrate to a temperature of less than or equal to 100° C. in less than or equal to 3 minutes.

13. The method for regenerating a salt bath of claim 12 , wherein the ion-exchangeable substrate comprises glass, glass-ceramic, or combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Amin Jaymin
• Guo Xiaoju
• Heck Todd Leroy
• Hu Hongmei
• Jin Yuhui
• Oram Pascale
• Ukrainczyk Ljerka

Classifications

• C03C21/002 Primary

  to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions (C03C21/005 takes precedence) · CPC title

• C03C3/097

  containing phosphorus, niobium or tantalum · CPC title

• B01J39/14

  Base exchange silicates, e.g. zeolites · CPC title

• C03C2204/00

  Glasses, glazes or enamels with special properties · CPC title

• C03C4/18

  for ion-sensitive glass · CPC title