Chlorine trifluoride is an interhalogen compound with the formula ClF3. This colorless, poisonous, corrosive, and extremely reactive gas condenses to a pale-greenish yellow liquid, the form in which it is most often sold (pressurized at room temperature). Despite being famous for its extreme oxidation properties and igniting many things, chlorine trifluoride is not combustible itself. The compound is primarily of interest in plasmaless cleaning and etching operations in the semiconductor industry,[8][9] in nuclear reactor fuel processing,[10] historically as a component in rocket fuels, and various other industrial operations owing to its corrosive nature.[11]
It occurs as a ligand in the complex CsF(ClF3)3.[14]
One of the main uses of ClF3 is to produce uranium hexafluoride, UF6, as part of nuclear fuel processing and reprocessing, by the fluorination of uranium metal:
In the semiconductor industry, chlorine trifluoride is used to clean chemical vapour deposition chambers.[15] It has the advantage that it can be used to remove semiconductor material from the chamber walls without the need to dismantle the chamber.[15] Unlike most of the alternative chemicals used in this role, it does not need to be activated by the use of plasma since the heat of the chamber is sufficient to make it decompose and react with the semiconductor material.[15]
Rocket propellant
Chlorine trifluoride has been investigated as a high-performance storable oxidizer in rocket propellant systems. Handling concerns, however, severely limit its use. The following passage by rocket scientist John D. Clark is widely quoted in descriptions of the substance's extremely hazardous nature:
It is, of course, extremely toxic, but that's the least of the problem. It is hypergolic with every known fuel, and so rapidly hypergolic that no ignition delay has ever been measured. It is also hypergolic with such things as cloth, wood, and test engineers, not to mention asbestos, sand, and water—with which it reacts explosively. It can be kept in some of the ordinary structural metals—steel, copper, aluminum, etc.—because of the formation of a thin film of insoluble metal fluoride that protects the bulk of the metal, just as the invisible coat of oxide on aluminium keeps it from burning up in the atmosphere. If, however, this coat is melted or scrubbed off, and has no chance to reform, the operator is confronted with the problem of coping with a metal-fluorine fire. For dealing with this situation, I have always recommended a good pair of running shoes.[16]
Chlorine pentafluoride (ClF5) has also been investigated as a potential rocket oxidizer. It offered improved specific impulse over chlorine trifluoride, but with all of the same difficulties in handling. Neither compound has been used in any operational rocket propulsion system.
Proposed military applications
Under the code nameN-Stoff ("substance N"), chlorine trifluoride was investigated for military applications by the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Nazi Germany not long before the start of World War II. Tests were made against mock-ups of the Maginot Line fortifications, and it was found to be an extremely effective incendiary weapon and poison gas. From 1938, construction commenced on a partly bunkered, partly subterranean 14,000 m2 (150,000 sq ft) munitions factory, the Falkenhagen industrial complex, which was intended to produce 90 tonnes of N-Stoff per month, in addition to sarin (a deadly nerve agent). However, by the time it was captured by the advancing Red Army in 1945, the factory had produced only about 30 to 50 tonnes, at a cost of over 100 German Reichsmarks per kilogram.a N-Stoff was never used in war.[17][18]
Hazards
ClF3 is a very strong oxidizer, specifically a fluorinating agent. It is extremely reactive with most inorganic and organic materials, and will combust many otherwise non-flammable materials without any ignition source. These reactions are often violent, and in some cases explosive, especially with flammable materials. Steel, copper, and nickel are not consumed because a passivation layer of insoluble metal fluoride will form which prevents further corrosion, but molybdenum, tungsten, and titanium are unsuitable as the fluorides that they form are volatile. Any equipment that comes into contact with ClF3 must be meticulously cleaned and then passivated, because any contamination left may burn through the unfluorinated material faster than it can re-form. ClF3 will quickly corrode even noble metals like iridium, platinum, or gold, oxidizing them to chlorides and fluorides.
This oxidizing power, surpassing that of oxygen, causes ClF3 to react vigorously with many other materials often thought of as incombustible and refractory. It is known to ignite sand, asbestos, glass, and even ashes of substances that have already burned in oxygen. In one particular industrial accident, a spill of 900 kg of ClF3 burned through 30 cm of concrete and 90 cm of gravel beneath.[19][16] There is exactly one known fire control/suppression method capable of dealing with ClF3—flooding the fire with nitrogen or noble gases such as argon. Barring that, the area must simply be kept cool until the reaction ceases.[20] The compound reacts with water-based suppressors and CO2, rendering them counterproductive.[21]
Exposure to larger amounts of ClF3, as a liquid or as a gas, ignites living tissue, resulting in severe chemical and thermal burns. ClF3 reacts violently with water and exposure to the reaction also results in burns. The products of hydrolysis are mainly hydrofluoric acid and hydrochloric acid, which are usually released as steam or vapor due to the highly exothermic nature of the reaction.
^a Using data from Economic History Services[22] and The Inflation Calculator[23] it can be calculated that the sum of 100 Reichsmarks in 1941 is approximately equivalent to US$4,652.50 in 2021. Reichsmark exchange rate values from 1942 to 1944 are fragmentary.
References
^ abc"Chlorine trifluoride". PubChem Compound. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 4 July 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2023.
^Xi, Ming et al. (1997) U.S. patent 5,849,092 "Process for chlorine trifluoride chamber cleaning"
^Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, (BEST) (2006). Acute Exposure Guideline Levels for Selected Airborne Chemicals: Volume 5. Washington D.C.: National Academies Press. p. 40. ISBN978-0-309-10358-9. (available from National Academies PressArchived 2014-11-07 at the Wayback Machine)
^Boyce, C. Bradford and Belter, Randolph K. (1998) U.S. patent 6,034,016 "Method for regenerating halogenated Lewis acid catalysts"
^Müller, Benno (24 November 2005). "A poisonous present". Nature. Review of: Kampfstoff-Forschung im Nationalsozialismus: Zur Kooperation von Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituten, Militär und Industrie [Weapons Research in National Socialism] by Florian Schmaltz (Wallstein, 2005, 676 pages). 438 (7067): 427. Bibcode:2005Natur.438..427M. doi:10.1038/438427a.
^"Germany 2004". www.bunkertours.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2006-06-13.
^Patnaik, Pradyot (2007). A comprehensive guide to the hazardous properties of chemical substances (3rd ed.). Wiley-Interscience. p. 478. ISBN978-0-471-71458-3.
^"The Inflation Calculator". S. Morgan Friedman's 'Webpage': Ceci N'est Pas Une Homepage. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
Further reading
Groehler, Olaf (1989). Der lautlose Tod. Einsatz und Entwicklung deutscher Giftgase von 1914 bis 1945. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt. ISBN978-3-499-18738-4.
Ebbinghaus, Angelika (1999). Krieg und Wirtschaft: Studien zur deutschen Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1939–1945. Berlin: Metropol. pp. 171–194. ISBN978-3-932482-11-3.
