What can yttrium be used for?

Yttrium is silver-white to dark gray, or black solid or gray powder. Odourless. Elements of groups III-B of the Periodic table. It's very similar to rare earth metals. Yttrium is commonly found with rare earth elements, and although in some respects it is classified as a rare earth element, it is listed in the periodic table as the first element in the second row of rare earth elements (period 5), belonging to the Chemicalbook transmetals. It is the lightest of all rare earth atoms. (Note: Yttrium is in the periodic table above the element lanthanum (group 3), which began the lanthanide rare earth series. Yttrium can be dissolved in weak acids, but also in strong bases such as potassium hydroxide, and will decompose in water. The melting point is 1,522℃, the boiling point is 5,338℃, and the density is 4.469g/cm3.

Yttrium and another rare-earth element, cerium, are two of the rare-earth elements that are more abundant in the Earth's crust, so they were first discovered among the rare-earth elements. In northern Scandinavia, Norway and Sweden are rich sources of rare-earth minerals, so the two elements were first discovered in this region. The purity of yttrium produced in industry is generally not less than 93.4%, and its main impurities are other rare earth elements, the content is 3.8%, calcium 1.6%; Iron is 0.05%; Copper is 0.1%; Tantalum or tungsten 1%. 

Chemicalbook can also produce yttrium with purity of 99.8 percent or more. The main impurities in high purity yttrium are still rare earth elements. Yttrium is one of the most abundant rare earth elements, as long as it exists in silberyllium yttrium, black rare earth and phosphoyttrium, it also exists in monazite and fluorocarbon waste ore. Yttrium also exists in nuclear fission products, and all yttrium in nature is stable isotope yttrium 89. Mainly distributed in China, the United States, Australia, India, Malaysia and Brazil and other countries, more than 40% of which are concentrated in China.

Chemistry of yttrium fluoride

Melting point: 1522 ° C (lit.)

Boiling point: 3338 ° C (lit.)

Density: 4.469 g/mLat25 ° C (lit.)

Flash point: 470 ℃

Storage condition :Flammablesarea

Appearance: powder

Color: Gray,

Specific gravity: 4.47

Resistivity (resistivity) : 57 mu Ω - cm, 20 ° C

Water solubility: Insolubleinwater

Sensitive: airsensitive, moistureensitive

Yttrium metal foil safety information

Dangerous Goods Transport Code: UN 3264 8/PG 3

Danger level: 8

Packing category: III

Customs code: 28053090

Application of yttrium oxide powder

Yttrium metal is widely used, yttrium aluminum garnet can be used as laser materials, yttrium iron garnet used in microwave technology and sound energy transfer, yttrium vanadate and yttrium oxide mixed with europium used as color television phosphors.

Yttrium is a versatile metal, the main uses are:

(1) Additives for steel and non-ferrous alloys. FeCr alloys typically contain 0.5-4% yttrium, which enhances the oxidation resistance and ductility of these stainless steels; After adding appropriate amount of yttrium-rich mixed rare earth to MB26 alloy, the comprehensive properties of the alloy are obviously improved, and it can replace part of medium-strong aluminum alloy in the stressed components of aircraft. Adding a small amount of yttrium-rich rare earth to the Al-Zr alloy can improve the conductivity of the alloy. The alloy has been used by most domestic wire factories; The addition of yttrium to the copper alloy increases the electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.

(2) Chemicalbook silicon nitride ceramic material containing 6% yttrium and 2% aluminum can be used to develop engine components.

(3) Drilling, cutting, welding and other mechanical processing of large components are carried out with a dymium yttrium aluminum garnet laser beam with 400 watts power.

(4) The electron microscope fluorescent screen composed of Y-Al garnet single crystal has high fluorescence brightness, low absorption of scattered light, good resistance to high temperature and mechanical wear.

(5) High yttrium structural alloys containing up to 90% yttrium can be used in aviation and other applications requiring low density and high melting point.

(6) At present, yttrium-doped SrZrO3 high temperature proton conduction materials are of great significance for the production of fuel cells, electrolytic cells and gas sensitive elements requiring high hydrogen solubility. In addition, yttrium is also used as high temperature resistant spraying material, diluent for nuclear reactor fuel, additive for permanent magnet materials and as getter in electronic industry.

The preparation of yttrium metal powder

Yttrium is the 27 most abundant elements found on Earth, so treating it as "rare" isn't exactly correct - it's just hard to extract and extract from all the other similar elements found in its minerals. The quarry near Ytterby, Sweden was analyzed as (Ce, La, Nd, Y) 2FeBe2Si2O10. Most yttrium is recovered from the mineral monazite, a dark, sandy mixture of the elements [(Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y) PO4]Chemicalbook that contains about 50% rare earths, including about 3% yttrium. Yttrium was separated from other rare earths by magnetic and flotation processes, followed by iron exchange replacement processes. Yttrium ions bind to fluoride ions and are then reduced by using calcium metals that form yttrium (3Ca+2YF3→2Y+3CaF2). This reduction process produces highly purified yttrium, which can be made into ingots, crystals, sponges, powders and wires.