anticipated that plates having a density in the range of 90 98 of theoretical may be effectively used as electrodes in an aluminum electrolysis cell the noted metal additives may be useful in producing such plates and with the appropriate porosity this data also suggests that the total amount of metal additives should be less than 0 55 wt however it is anticipated that higher amounts of metal additives e g up to about 0 75 wt total could be employed in some circumstances the data also shows that at least some metal additives are required plates made from pure tib 2 composition d were the worst performing indicating that at least some metal additive is required similar to example 1 various powder blends are produced by blending the weight percent of the metal additives of the various blended samples are provided in table 2 below the balance being tib 2 and unavoidable impurities tib 2 powder samples are pressed into plate form using a lab scale hot press after pressing the plates are machined into test coupons e g 2 u2033 u00d7 2 u2033 u00d7 0 5 u2033 the test coupons are exposed to a molten aluminum bath having a salt cover in an alumina crucible the temperature of the molten aluminum was comparable to the conditions used in aluminum electrolysis cells employing inert anodes e g in the range of 840 910 u00b0 c the test coupons were exposed to the molten aluminum for about 480 hours after the exposure period the test coupons are removed hot from the crucible and air quenched the test coupons are examined both by macroscopic inspection and by microstructure.