Iridium Metal (Ir)-Crucible
Product Description
Characteristic
Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, iridium is considered to be the second-densest metal (after osmium) with a density of 22.56 g/cm3 as defined by experimental X-ray crystallography.
Phase at STP: solid
Melting point: 2719 K (2446 °C, 4435 °F)
Boiling point: 4403 K (4130 °C, 7466 °F)
Density (near r.t.): 22.56 g/cm3
when liquid (at m.p.): 19 g/cm3
Heat of fusion: 41.12 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporization: 564 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity: 25.10 J/(mol·K)
Application
The most important iridium compounds in use are the salts and acids it forms with chlorine, though iridium also forms a number of organometallic compounds used in industrial catalysis, and in research. Iridium metal is employed when high corrosion resistance at high temperatures is needed, as in high-performance spark plugs, crucibles for recrystallization of semiconductors at high temperatures, and electrodes for the production of chlorine in the chloralkali process. Iridium radioisotopes are used in some radioisotope thermoelectric generators.