Tellurium alloys

Copper Alloys. Tellurium is alloyed with copper for various purposes. Frequently the tellurium is added to molten copper as a copper teUuride (46.3% Te) master alloy, taking advantage of the peritectic melting point of 1051°C. 

Other Metals. Tellurium has been added to copper-base, lead-base, and tin-base bearing alloys. In babbit-type alloys, tellurium controls the... 

Babbit-type alloys -tellurium m [TELLURIUM AND TELLURIUM COMPOUNDS] (Vol 23)... 

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Tellurium usually occurs in nature as metallic tellurides. This toxic element is used in the production of iron, steel, and other alloys. Tellurium can have oxidation states of -2, +2, +4, and +6. Tellurites tend to be more toxic than tellurates [12]. 

Materials for PC Media. Crystalline alloys of elements from the fifth and sixth main group are preferred (3,103,109—111). As the first PC materials, tellurium suboxides as well as Te/Se or Te films that had been doped with small amounts of other elements like Ge, As, or Sb to shift the crystallization point to >100°C have been described. 

Lea.d nd Le d Alloys. Selenium is reported to lower the surface tension of lead. The addition of 0.1% selenium and tellurium to solder improves its fluidity. 

Nickel—Iron and Cobalt—Iron Alloys. Selenium improves the machinabifity of Ni—Ee and Co—Ee alloys which are used for electrical appfications. Neither sulfur nor tellurium are usefiil additives because these elements cause hot britdeness. The addition of 0.4—0.5% selenium promotes a columnar crystal stmcture on solidification, doubling the coercive force of cobalt—iron-titanium alloy permanent magnets produced with an equiaxial grain stmcture. 

TJItrahigh (99.999 + %) purity tellurium is prepared by zone refining in a hydrogen or inert-gas atmosphere. Single crystals of tellurium, tellurium alloys, and metal teUurides are grown by the Bridgman and Czochralski methods (see Semiconductors). 

A 99.5% Cu—0.5% Te alloy has been on the market for many years (78). The most widely used is alloy No. CA145 (number given by Copper Development Association, New York), nominally containing 0.5% tellurium and 0.008% phosphorous. The electrical conductivity of this alloy, in the aimealed state, is 90—98%, and the thermal conductivity 91.5—94.5% that of the tough-pitch grade of copper. The machinahility rating, 80—90, compares with 100 for free-cutting brass and 20 for pure copper. 

Copper. The physical properties of pure copper are given in Table 11. The mechanical properties of pure copper are essentially the same as those for ClOl and CllO. The coppers represent a series of alloys ranging from the commercially pure copper, ClOl, to the dispersion hardened alloy C157. The difference within this series is the specification of small additions of phosphoms, arsenic, cadmium, tellurium, sulfur, zirconium, as well as oxygen. To be classified as one of the coppers, the alloy must contain at least 99.3% copper. 

Specia.lty Coppers. Additions are made to copper to satisfy specific needs. Tellurium at a nominal 0.5 wt % addition, sulfur at 0.35 wt %, and lead at 1 wt % enhance machinabiHty. These alloys are identified as C145, C147, and C187, respectively. The solubiHty limit for each element is <0.001%, so that the excess is present as second-phase particles which assist in fracture of chips and lubrication during machining. 

Another important factor in the selection of a lead alloy is fatigue strength, which may arise from high-frequency vibration from pumps and stirrers or from differential expansion from heat and cooling cycles. The marked increase of fatigue strength obtained by alloying with copper, silver and tellurium can be seen from Table 3.25. 

Of the elements commonly found in lead alloys, zinc and bismuth aggravate corrosion in most circumstances, while additions of copper, tellurium, antimony, nickel, silver, tin, arsenic and calcium may reduce corrosion resistance only slightly, or even improve it depending on the service conditions. Alloying elements that are of increasing importance are calcium especially in maintenance-free battery alloys and selenium, or sulphur combined with copper as nucleants in low antimony battery alloys. Other elements of interest are indium in anodesaluminium in batteries and selenium in chemical lead as a grain refiner ". 

Let us note finally, that tellurium has been considered as an appropriate component for the lead grid alloy in lead-acid batteries, as improving its durability, mechanical strength, and anti-corrosive ability. In investigating Pb-Te binary alloys with different contents of Te (0.01-1.0 wt%) in sulfuric acid solution it was shown recently [104] that the introduction of Te can inhibit the growth of Pb02 and increase corrosion resistance of the positive grid alloy of a lead-acid battery. By the... 

Ores in which the gold is in chemical combination in the form of an alloy, typically with tellurium, this is less common, but it creates recovery problems where it does occur. 

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