RU2113031C1 - Mercury metering compound, mercury metering appliance, and method for introducing mercury in electronic devices - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: mercury-arc devices. SUBSTANCE: mercury metering combination has mercury metering compound incorporating mercury and second metal, such as titanium, zirconium, and their mixtures, better Ti₃Hg, as well as activating alloy or intermetal compound including copper, tin, and one or more metals chosen from rare earth elements, such as mesh metal. Mercury metering appliances also have such combination and, in addition, they include gettering material; method involves introduction of one of appliances into open device followed by heating it to separate mercury at temperature of 600-900 C from 10 s to 1 min upon sealing the device. EFFECT: improved accuracy of mercury metering, dispensing with containers, and eliminating unwanted escape of mercury. 30 cl, 4 dwg

Description

 The present invention relates to a combination of materials for the production of devices combining the functions of gettering and dosing of mercury, to devices obtained on the basis of this combination, and to a method for introducing mercury into electronic devices.

 The use of small amounts of mercury in electronic devices such as, for example, a mercury arc rectifier, lasers, various types of alphanumeric displays, and in particular fluorescent lamps, are well known in the art.

The accurate dosage of mercury inside these devices is critical to the quality of these devices, and most of all - for environmental reasons. In fact, the high toxicity of this element causes serious environmental pollution problems after the life of the devices containing it, or in the event of unexpected destruction of these devices. These environmental problems cause the use of mercury in the smallest possible amounts, compatible with the functional purpose of the devices. These considerations have also recently been included in the field of legislation, and the trend of international norms and rules adopted in recent years is to set upper limits on the amount of mercury that can be introduced into devices; for example, for standard fluorescent lamps, the use of total mercury of not more than 10 mg (10 ^-5 kg) per lamp is proposed.

 Mercury can be introduced into devices in liquid form. However, the use of liquid mercury primarily poses challenges regarding storage and handling in plants for the manufacture of devices due to the high vapor pressure of mercury and at room temperature. Secondly, a common drawback of the methods for introducing mercury in liquid form into devices is the difficulty in accurately and reproducibly dosing mercury in volumes of the order of microliters, which results in the introduction of larger quantities than necessary.

 These shortcomings have led to the development of various methods, which are an alternative to the use of liquid mercury in free form.

 The use of liquid mercury contained in capsules is disclosed, for example, in US Pat. Nos. 4,823,047 and 4,754,193 concerning the use of metal capsules, and in US Pat. Nos. 4,182,971, 4,278,908, which describe the construction of a glass mercury container. After the instrument is sealed, mercury is released by heat treatment, which causes the destruction of the container. These methods, generally speaking, have several disadvantages. First of all, the manufacture of capsules and their installation in devices can be complicated, especially when they have to be inserted inside small-sized devices. Secondly, the destruction of the capsule, in particular if it is made of glass, can lead to the formation of fragments of material that can jeopardize the quality of the devices, and this threat is so strong that in US patent N 4335326 proposed site in which containing mercury the capsule, in turn, is placed inside the capsule, which acts as a screen for the fragments. Moreover, the release of mercury is often dangerous, damage to the internal structure of the device is possible. Finally, these systems retain the disadvantage of using liquid mercury, and therefore they cannot completely solve the problem of accurate and reproducible dosing of a few milligrams of mercury.

 US Pat. No. 4,808,136 and European Patent Application EP-568,317 disclose the use of tablets or small spheres of a porous material impregnated with mercury, which is then released by heating immediately after sealing the lamp. However, these methods also require complicated operations to introduce mercury into tablets, and the released amount of mercury is difficult to reproduce.

It is also known to use mercury amalgams, for example with indium, bismuth or zinc. However, these amalgams, as a rule, have the disadvantage of a low melting point and high vapor pressure of mercury even at not very high temperatures. For example, zinc amalgams described in the commercial bulletins of A&P Al Engineered Materials Inc. (APL Engineered Materials Inc.) have a vapor pressure at 43 ^° C, which is about 90% of the vapor pressure of liquid mercury. Therefore, these amalgams do not tolerate heat treatment in the manufacture of lamps into which they are introduced.

These difficulties can be overcome with the technical solution specified in US patent N 3657589, which discloses the use of intermetallic mercury compounds having the general formula Ti _x Zr _y Hg _z , where x and y can vary from 0 to 13, the sum (x + y) can vary from 3 to 13, and z can take the values 1 or 2.

These compounds have a temperature of onset of mercury release that varies depending on the particular compound, but they are stable up to a temperature of about 500 ^° C. both in the atmosphere and in rarefied volumes, as a result of which they are compatible with the assembly operations of electronic devices during which the mercury metering devices may reach temperatures of about 500 ^o C. After sealing the tube, the mercury is released from the aforementioned compounds with an activation operation, which is usually carried out by heating at a material temperature 750 m to 900 ^o C for 30 seconds. Heating can be carried out by laser irradiation or induction heating of the metal substrate of the mercury-dosing compound. The use of the Ti ₃ Hg compound manufactured and supplied by the Applicant under the trade name St505 (St505) leads to specific benefits; in particular, the St505 compound is supplied in the form of a compressed powder in an annular container or compressed powder in granules or tablets with the STAHGSORB ^® trademark or in the form of powders layered on a metal strip with the GEMEDIS ^® trademark .

These materials provide various advantages over the well-known:
- as mentioned above, they avoid the risk of evaporation of mercury during the manufacturing cycle of devices at which temperatures can reach values of about 300 - 400 ^o C;
- as indicated in the aforementioned US patent N 3657589, H 01 J 7/18, 1972 it is possible to easily enter gettering material into a mercury-dosing compound for the purpose of chemisorption of gases such as CO, CO ₂ , O ₂ , H ₂ and H ₂ O which interfere with the normal operation of the device, the getter is used during the same heat treatment in order to release mercury;
- The released amount of mercury is easy to control and reproduce.

Despite the good chemical and physical properties and considerable ease of use, these materials have the disadvantage that the mercury contained in them is not completely released during the activating treatment. In fact, methods of manufacturing mercury-containing electronic devices include the operation of sealing devices by melting glass (for example, the operation of sealing fluorescent lamps) or by brazing, i.e., brazing two preformed glass elements using a paste of low-melting glass. During these operations, the mercury-metering device can be indirectly heated to a temperature of about 600 ^° C. At this stage, the device is exposed to gases and vapors emitted by molten glass, and - in almost all industrial processes - to air. Under these conditions, the mercury-dosing material undergoes surface oxidation, the final result of which is the yield of less than about 40% of the total mercury content during activation. In the specific case of compact ring lamps, at the stages of sealing and bending the lamps, the mercury-dosing material is indirectly heated to a temperature of about 500 ^° C. In this case, the mercury yield during activation decreases to about 20% of the total mercury content in the device.

 Mercury that is not released during the activation process is then released slowly over the life of the electronic device.

 This characteristic, along with the fact that the device, of course, must work from the beginning to the end of its service cycle, leads to the need to introduce into the device a certain amount of mercury, which is at least twice the theoretically necessary amount.

To solve these problems, patent application EP-A-091297 proposes to introduce Ni or Cu powders into Ti ₃ Hg or Zr ₃ Hg compounds. According to this document, the introduction of Ni or Cu into the mercury-dosing compounds causes the aggregate of the materials thus obtained to melt, favoring the release of almost all of the mercury in a few seconds. Melting takes place at eutectic temperatures of the Ni-Ti, Ni-Zr and Cu-Zr systems ranging from about 880 ^° C for a composition consisting of 66% Cu and 34% Ti, to 1280 ^° C for a composition consisting of 81 % Ni and 19% Ti (atomic percent), although the melting point is erroneously indicated in the document as 770 ^° C. for a composition of 4% Ni - 96% Ti. This document acknowledges that the mercury-dosing compound changes during manufacturing operations and requires protection. To do this, it is proposed to seal the powder container by means of a steel, silver or nickel sheet, which ruptures upon activation under the influence of vapor pressure of mercury formed inside the container. This solution is not completely satisfactory: in fact, in the same way as in the methods where capsules are used, hazardous emissions of mercury occur, and this can cause damage to parts of the device; It is quite difficult to make a container, since it requires welding of small-sized metal elements. In addition, experimental data are not provided in this document to support the appropriate mercury release characteristics for these populations. And finally, the devices referred to in this application, unlike those illustrated in the aforementioned US Pat. No. 3657589, do not allow the incorporation of getter material, the presence of which is necessary for proper lamp operation, into the same device.

 Therefore, the objective of the present invention is to develop an improved set of materials for dispensing mercury in electronic devices, which eliminates one or more of the disadvantages of the known technical solutions.

 In particular, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved combination of mercury dispensing materials capable of releasing amounts of mercury in excess of 60% in an activation step even after partial oxidation so as to be able to reduce the total amount of mercury used.

 Another objective of the present invention is to develop a combination of materials, the remainder of which, after an activation operation to release mercury, has gettering activity.

 Another objective of the present invention is to develop a metering mercury device containing the proposed combination of materials.

 And another objective of the present invention is to develop a method for introducing mercury through the proposed devices into electronic devices in which this element is necessary.

According to the present invention, these and other problems are solved by using a mercury-dosing aggregate of materials consisting of:
- a mercury-dosing intermetallic compound A, comprising mercury and a second metal selected from titanium, zirconium and mixtures thereof;
an alloy or intermetallic compound B comprising copper, tin and one or more metals selected from rare earths.

Other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
In FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inventive mercury-dispensing device according to a first embodiment thereof;
in FIG. 2 a, b respectively - a top view and a section along the line II-II of the proposed device according to another possible embodiment;
in FIG. 3 a, b, c respectively - a top view and two sections along the line III-III of the proposed device according to another embodiment in two possible modifications;
in FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional image of the alloys of the present invention.

Component A of the present disclosure, also referred to as the mercury dispenser hereinafter, is an intermetallic compound according to the formula Ti _x Zr _y Hg _z disclosed in said US Pat. No. 3657589, which can be consulted for further information. Among the materials corresponding to this formula, Zr ₃ Hg and in particular Ti ₃ Hg are preferred.

 Component B of the proposed combination performs the function of favoring the release of mercury from component A and therefore will also be referred to below as a promoter (activator). This component is a metal alloy or intermetallic compound, including copper, tin and a metal selected from rare earth elements. The use of a mixture of rare earth elements should be preferred over the use of single elements, since these metals have similar chemical properties, and as a result, the isolation of single elements is a difficult and expensive operation; on the other hand, using a mixture of rare earth elements, it is possible, in this application, to obtain essentially the same results as in the case of single elements. Mixtures of rare earth elements are known in the art under the name "mischmetal"; this name and its short form MM will be used further in the rest of the description and in the claims.

Mas. the ratio between copper, tin and MM can be changed in a wide range, but the preferred results were obtained in the case of compositions that in the three-component composition diagram in wt.% (figure 4) fall into the polygon defined by the points:
a) Cu 63% - Sn 36.5% - MM 0.5%,
b) Cu 63% - Sn 10% - MM 27%,
f) Cu 30% - Sn 10% - MM 60%,
g) Cu 3% - Sn 37% - MM 60%,
h) Cu 3% - Sn 96.5% - MM 0.5%.

In the case of percentages of copper exceeding 63%, the alloy reaches a high melting point and, therefore, excessive temperatures will be required to activate it, whereas, on the contrary, with percentages of copper less than about 3%, the alloy has a too low melting point and this entails the risk of the presence of a high viscosity liquid phase at temperatures ranging from about 600 to 800 ^o C, achieved in the manufacture of lamps. At concentrations of mischmetal in excess of 60 wt.%, The alloy becomes excessively reactive, and this could lead to the occurrence of hazardous reactions both at the stage of lamp production and at the activation stage. Finally, when the tin content is less than 10 wt. % alloy again reaches a high melting point.

Specific preferred results in the specified range of compositions obtained by compositions that are on a three-component diagram of percentage compositions in wt. % (Fig. 4) fall into the polygon defined by points:
a) Cu 63% - Sn 36.5% - MM 0.5%,
b) Cu 63% - Sn 10% - MM 27%,
c) Cu 50% - Sn 10% - MM 40%,
d) Cu 30% - Sn 30% - MM 40%,
e) Cu 30% - Sn 69.5% - MM 0.5%.

 A particular preferred alloy has a percentage composition of Cu 40% —Sn 30% —MM 30% corresponding to point i) in the three-component composition diagram shown in FIG. 4.

 Mas. the ratio between components A and B of the proposed population can be changed in a wide range, but basically it is between 20: 1 and 1:20, and preferably between 10: 1 and 1: 5.

 Components A and B of the proposed combination can be used in different physical forms, and not necessarily in the same form for both components. For example, component B may be provided in the form of a coating of a metal substrate, and component A as a powder bonded to component B by rolling. However, the best results were obtained when both components were in the form of a fine powder having a particle size of less than 250 μm, preferably in the range of 10-125 μm.

 The present invention, in its second aspect, relates to mercury metering devices that use the above aggregates of materials A and B.

 As mentioned earlier, one of the advantages of the proposed combination of materials in relation to known systems is that these materials do not require mechanical protection from the environment, which means that they are not limited to the use of a sealed container. Therefore, the proposed mercury-dispensing devices can be manufactured by giving them a variety of geometric shapes, and materials A and B can be used together without a substrate or with a substrate, usually a metal one.

Some classes of electronic devices for which mercury dispensers are designed additionally require the presence of a getter material, which removes traces of gases such as CO, CO ₂ , O ₂ , H ₂ or water vapor, for their proper operation; this is the case, for example, in the case of fluorescent lamps. An important advantage provided by the proposed aggregates is that their residue after evaporation of mercury has gettering activity. The amount of gas that this residue can absorb and the absorption rate are sufficient to guarantee the proper degree of vacuum for many applications. In order to increase the overall gas absorption rate and the capacity of this device, one can obviously introduce another getter material C into it using the methods described in the aforementioned US patent N 3657589. Obviously, in this case the amount of getter material C is less than that required in known devices applied in the same application. Examples of gettering materials include, but are not limited to, metals such as titanium, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, vanadium, and mixtures thereof, or alloys thereof with other metals such as nickel, iron, aluminum, similar to an alloy having a composition in wt. . %: Zr 84% - Al 16%, manufactured and supplied by the Applicant under the name St101 (St101), or intermetallic compounds Zr ₂ Fe and Zr ₂ Ni, manufactured and supplied by the Applicant, respectively, under the names St198 (St198) and St199 (St199) . The getter material is activated during the same heat treatment in which mercury is released inside the device.

 The getter material C may be presented in various physical forms, but is preferably used in the form of a powder having a particle size of less than 250 microns, preferably in the range of 10-125 microns.

 The ratio between the total weight of materials A and B and the total weight of getter material C is typically in the range of about 10: 1 to 1:10, preferably between 5: 1 and 1: 2.

 Some possible embodiments of the proposed devices will be illustrated here with reference to the drawings.

 In the first possible embodiment, the proposed device may simply consist of a tablet 10 of pressed and unpertured powders of materials A and B (and possibly C), which - for ease of manufacture - has the form of a cylinder or parallelepiped; this latter possibility is shown in FIG. one.

 In the case of supported materials, the device may be in the form of a ring 20, as shown in FIG. 2, i.e. - in a top view of this device, and in Fig. 2 (a) is a section along the line II-II of device 20. In this case, the device is made of a substrate 21 having the shape of a toroidal channel containing materials A and B (and, possibly, C ) The substrate is typically metal, and preferably nickel-plated steel.

 Instead, the device can be shaped into the strip 30 shown in FIG. 3a, i.e. - in a plan view of the device, and in FIG. 3 (b, c), where a section is shown along the line III-III of the device 30. In this case, the substrate 31 consists of a strip, preferably made of nickel-plated steel, onto which materials A and B are bonded and bonded by cold pressing (rolling) (and possibly C). In this case, whenever the presence of getter material C is required, materials A, B and C can be mixed and rolled on one or both surfaces of the strip (Fig. 3b), or materials A and B are rolled on the same surface of the strip, and material C - on the opposite surface, as shown in FIG. 3c.

 The invention, in another aspect, relates to a method for introducing mercury into electronic devices by using the aforementioned devices.

The method includes the step of introducing into the device the aforementioned mercury-dosing composition of materials, preferably contained in one of the aforementioned devices 10, 20 or 30, and then the step of heating this assembly to release mercury. The heating step can be carried out by any suitable means, such as, for example, irradiation, high-frequency induction heating or the presence of a large electric current through the substrate, when the latter is made of a material having high electrical resistance. The heating is carried out at a temperature that causes the release of mercury from the mercury-dosing aggregate and is in the range of 600-900 ^° C. for a period of about 10 seconds to one minute. At temperatures less than 600 ^o C, mercury is almost not dosed at all, while at temperatures above 900 ^o C there is a danger of the formation of toxic gases released from parts of the electronic device adjacent to the device, or the danger of the formation of metal vapors.

 The invention will now be illustrated by the following examples. These non-limiting examples illustrate certain embodiments intended to show those skilled in the art how to put the invention into practice and to show an embodiment of the invention that is considered to be the best. Examples 1 and 3 relate to the production of dosing mercury and activating materials, while examples 4 to 9 relate to tests for the release of mercury after heat treatment simulating a sealing operation. Examples 10-14 relate to testing the functionality of residues resulting from the removal of mercury as heterogeneous materials. All metals used to produce alloys and compounds in order to carry out the tests listed below had a minimum purity of 99.5%. In the compositions indicated in the examples, all percentages are mass. interest, if there are no special reservations.

 Example 1

This example illustrates the synthesis of mercury-dosing material Ti ₃ Hg.

143.7 g (0.1437 kg) of titanium is placed in a steel tray and degassed by heat treatment in an oven at a temperature of about 700 ^o C and a pressure of 10 ^-6 mbar (0.1 MPa) for 30 minutes After cooling the titanium powder in an inert atmosphere, 200.6 g (0.2006 kg) of mercury is introduced into the tray by means of a quartz tube. Then the tray is closed and heated at a temperature of about 750 ^o C for 3 hours

 After cooling, the product is ground until a powder passes through a standard sieve with a mesh size of 120 μm.

The resulting material essentially consists of Ti ₃ Hg, which confirmed the diffractometric test of the powder.

Example 2
This example concerns the production of an activating alloy, which is part of the proposed assemblies.

 40 g (0.04 kg) of Cu 30 g (0.03 kg) of Sn and 30 g (0.03 kg) of MM in the form of a powder are placed in an aluminum tray, and then introduced into a vacuum induction electric furnace. The mishmetal used contains about 50 wt.% Cerium, 30% lanthanum, 15% neodymium, and the rest is made up of other rare earth elements.

The mixture is heated at a temperature of about 900 ^o C, keeping it at this temperature for 5 minutes to ensure its homogeneity, and then poured into a steel casting mold. Each ingot is crushed in a blade mill to obtain a powder similar to that described in Example 1. The composition of the obtained alloy has the form Cu 40% - Sn 30% - MM 30% and corresponds to point i) in the diagram shown in FIG. 4.

 Example 3

 This example relates to the production of an activating alloy, which is part of the proposed assemblies. The procedure described in Example 2 is repeated using 60 g (0.06 kg) Cu, 30 g (0.03 kg) Sn and 10 g (0.01 kg) MM in powder form. The composition of the obtained alloy has the form Cu 60% - Sn 30% - MM 10% and corresponds to point l) in the diagram shown in FIG. 4.

Examples 4-9
Examples 4–9 relate to the release of mercury after heat treatment in air, which simulates the conditions of glass soldering in which the device is located when the device is sealed (hereinafter referred to as sealing). Examples 4 to 7 are comparative examples that show how the release after glass soldering occurs, respectively, in the case of only the metering component (example 4) and in the case of the metering component mixed only with copper, only with tin and only with the above gettering alloy St101 (examples 5 to 7); a similar comparative test of a mixture of Ti ₃ Hg and MM powders was not possible due to the excessive reactivity of this mixture.

To simulate brewing, 150 mg (0.00015 kg) of each powder mixture was loaded into an annular container similar to that shown in FIG. 1, or onto a strip similar to that shown in FIG. 3a, and subjected to the following heat treatment cycle in air:
- heating from room temperature to 450 ^o C for a time of about 5 s;
- cooling from 450 to 350 ^o C, requiring about 2 s;
- keeping at 350 ^o C for 30 s;
- spontaneous cooling to room temperature, requiring about 2 minutes

Then, mercury release tests were carried out on the samples thus treated, heating them at a temperature of 850 ^° C. for 30 s in a vacuum chamber and measuring the amount of mercury remaining in the metering device using the Volhart complexometric titration method.

 The test results are summarized in table. 1, which shows the mercury-dosing compound A, activating material B (letters (i) or (l) in examples 8 and 9 refer to the composition of the Cu-Zn-MM alloy, as shown in the diagram depicted in Fig. 4, wt. the ratio between components A and B and the mercury yield as a percentage of the released mercury of the total content in the device.

 Comparative examples are marked with an asterisk.

Examples 10 to 14
Examples 10 to 14 relate to functional tests as getter materials of those residues that remain after the release of mercury through the proposed populations and several comparative populations.

These tests were carried out by simulating the conditions of sealing with glass solder, the effects of which are exposed to materials during bending and sealing operations of compact fluorescent lamps and which, as mentioned above, are tougher than those achieved in the case of rectilinear lamps. In particular, the aggregates indicated in the examples were subjected to the following heat treatment cycle in air: heating from room temperature to 600 ^° C. over a period of about 10 seconds; keeping at 600 ^o C for 15 s spontaneous cooling to room temperature, requiring about 2 minutes

Tests for the release of mercury (i.e. activation) were carried out after simulating glass brazing on samples. The samples sealed with glass solder were introduced into a vacuum chamber having a capacity of 1 l and heated in vacuum at a temperature of 850 ^o C, keeping at this temperature for 20 s.

The ability of the residue to function as a getter was determined after activation; this determination was carried out by introducing into the chamber a certain amount of hydrogen sufficient to provide a pressure of 0.1 mbar (10 Pa) at a temperature of 30 ^o C, and then determining the time required to reduce the pressure in the chamber to 0.01 mbar (1 Pa) . Pressure readings were determined using a capacitive pressure gauge. The results of these tests are summarized in table. 2, which indicates the composition of the sample and the rate of absorption of hydrogen at 30 ^o C. In the column "Composition" indicates the compositions of the materials of the components in wt. percent. Comparative populations are marked with an asterisk.

From the data table. 1 it can be concluded that the aggregates with the proposed promoter (activator) provide a mercury yield of over 80% at the activation stage even after glass brazing in air at 450 ^° C, thereby reducing the total amount of mercury introduced into electronic devices.

Moreover, as the data in table. 2, the residue available after the release of mercury has gettering activity: in fact, although the residue available after the release of mercury by the Ti ₃ Hg compound alone does not have gettering activity, the sample from Example 13 into which the gettering compound was not introduced exhibits a significant absorption rate oxygen. In addition, sample 12 has a hydrogen absorption rate comparable to the hydrogen absorption rate of the sample of Example 11, which is a combination of a mercury dispenser and a getter compound widely used by lamp manufacturers.

 When the getter material is introduced in the totality from Example 12, the hydrogen absorption rate is almost twice the hydrogen absorption rate of the sample of Example 11 with the same percentage of getter material. These properties of the proposed combination make it possible to use small amounts of getter material introduced, or even do without it at all, while maintaining the functional properties of the device in which it is used.

The proposed aggregates with a promoter (activator) give another important advantage, which consists in the possibility of carrying out an activation operation at temperatures acceptable for known materials, or several times lower temperatures. In fact, in order to obtain time intervals acceptable for industrial production, it should be taken into account that the use of only the Ti ₃ Hg compound requires an activation temperature of about 900 ^o C, while the proposed combination allows to reduce the time of the operation and the dimensions of the lines for the production of lamps; in both cases, a double advantage is achieved, leading to less pollution inside the electronic device due to the degassing of all materials present in it and to a decrease in the amount of energy required for activation.

Claims (30)

 1. Mercury-dosing composition containing a mercury-dosing or releasing mercury compound comprising mercury and a second metal selected from titanium, zirconium and mixtures thereof, characterized in that it further comprises a promoter - an activating alloy or an intermetallic compound including copper , tin and one or more metals selected from rare earths. 2. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the intermetallic compound A is Ti ₃ Hg. 3. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the activating compound is an alloy having a composition such that it falls into a polygon defined by points on a three-component diagram of percentage compositions in wt.%:
a) Cu 63% - Sn 36.5% - MM 0.5%
b) Cu 63% - Sn 10% - MM 27%
c) Cu 30% - Sn 10% - MM 60%
d) Cu 3% - Sn 37% - MM 60%
e) Cu 3% - Sn 96.5% - MM 0.5%. 4. The composition according to claim 3, characterized in that the activating compound is an alloy having a composition such that it on a three-component diagram of percentage compositions in wt.% Falls into a polygon defined by points:
a) Cu 63% - Sn 36.5% - MM 0.5%
b) Cu 63% - Sn 10% - MM 27%
f) Cu 50% - Sn 10% - MM 40%
g) Cu 30% - Sn 30% - MM 40%
h) Cu 30% - Sn 69.5% - MM 0.5%.  5. The composition according to claim 4, characterized in that the activating compound is an alloy having a percentage composition of Cu 40% - Sn 30% - MM 30%.  6. The composition according to claim 4, characterized in that the activating compound is an alloy having a percentage composition of Cu 60% - Sn 30% - MM 10%.  7. The composition according to claim 1, characterized in that the mass ratio between the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter is in the range from 20: 1 to 1: 20.  8. The composition according to claim 7, characterized in that the mass ratio between the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter is in the range from 10: 1 to 1: 5.  9. A mercury-dosing device containing a mercury-dosing composition, comprising a compound containing mercury and a second metal selected from the group comprising titanium, zirconium and mixtures thereof, and a getter material, characterized in that the mercury-dosing composition further comprises a promoter an activating alloy or intermetallic compound, including copper, tin and one or more rare earth metals.  10. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter are powders.  11. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that it consists of a tablet (10) compressed powders of materials of a mercury-dosing composition and a promoter.  12. The device according to claim 10, characterized in that the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter are contained in a metal substrate (21) having the shape of a toroidal channel.  13. The device according to p. 10, characterized in that the combination of materials of the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter is rolled on the surface of the substrate, having the form of a strip.  14. The device according to claim 9, characterized in that it further comprises a getter material.  15. The device according to 14, characterized in that the getter material is selected from the group comprising titanium, zirconium, tantalum, niobium, vanadium and mixtures thereof or alloys of these materials with nickel, iron or aluminum.  16. The device according to p. 15, characterized in that the getter material is an alloy having a composition, wt.%: Zr 84%, Al 16%. 17. The device according to p. 15, characterized in that the getter material is Zr ₂ Fe. 18. The device according to p. 15, characterized in that the getter material is a Zr ₂ Ni.  19. The device according to 14, characterized in that the mercury-dosing composition, promoter and getter material are powders.  20. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that it consists of a tablet (10) compressed powders of materials of a mercury-dosing composition, promoters and getter material.  21. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that the materials of the mercury-metering composition, promoter and getter material are contained in a metal substrate (21) having the shape of a toroidal channel.  22. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that the combination of the materials of the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter is rolled on the surface of a strip-shaped substrate, and the getter material is rolled on the opposite surface of the same strip.  23. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that the combination of materials of a mercury-dosing composition, a promoter and a getter material is rolled on one surface of a strip-shaped substrate.  24. The device according to 14, characterized in that the ratio between the total mass of materials of the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter and the mass of the getter material is in the range between 10: 1 and 1: 10.  25. The device according to paragraph 24, wherein the ratio between the total mass of materials of the mercury-dosing composition and the promoter and the mass of the getter material is in the range between 5: 1 and 1: 2.  26. The device according to claim 19, characterized in that the mercury-dosing material, promoter and getter material are in the form of powders having a particle size of less than 250 microns.  27. The device according to p. 26, characterized in that the mercury-dosing material, promoter and getter material are presented in the form of powders having a particle size in the range of 10 - 125 microns. 28. A method for introducing mercury and electronic devices, including introducing into an open device a mercury-metering device with a mercury-dosing composition releasing mercury, heating the device for releasing mercury at a temperature for releasing mercury from a mercury-releasing composition of 600 - 900 ^° C, characterized in that heating is carried out for from 10 s to 1 min after soldering the device.  29. The method according to p, characterized in that the electronic device is a rectangular fluorescent lamp.  30. The method according to p, characterized in that the electronic device is a compact annular fluorescent lamp.

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