Contents Beryllium

Occurrence The beryUium content of the earth s surface rocks has been estimated at 4—6 ppm (1). Although ca 45 beryllium-containing minerals have been identified, only beryl [1302-52-9] and bertrandite [12161 -82-9] are of commercial significance. 

The desked balance of ductility and strength can be obtained in age-hard-enable alloys, such as beryllium copper, by controlling the amount of precipitate. For higher strength, aging is conducted to provide a critical size dispersion. Greater amounts of precipitate are obtained by increasing the beryllium content of the alloy. 

Beryllhydrat, n. l yllium hydroxide. Beryllium-gehalt, m. beryllium content, -sail,... 

Obviously, all the plastics tested are more nearly transparent to 3.5-A x-rays than aluminum, but more nearly opaque than beryllium. Saran and Koroseal, owing to their chlorine content, are little better than aluminum as regards approach to transparency. 

Low-volatile metals (arsenic + beryllium + chromium) 92 pg/dscm 2.1 E-5 lb/MMBtu and 56 flg/dscm 9.5 E-5 lb/MMBtu and llOpg/dscm 380 pg/dscm 1.26 E-4 lb/MMBtu or 370pg/dscm depending on Btu content of hazardous TCI standard as surrogate... 

Minimal content of iron at the considered key point of Ermakovskii beryllium deposit - 0.8 % was established in bast (cambiums) of pine with the contents in twigs, needles and green cones equal to1.2 2.1 and 1.4 %. For given four barrier bioobjects PSC were received equal to 0.4 0.6 1.0 0.7 considering an average iron content in soil equal to 2 % -considerably less, than its dark, which was equal approximately to 5 %. 

Both of the soils are enriched in various elements, like zirconium, titanium, beryllium, niobium, and strontium, due to their enlarged content in the alkali basalts and phonolites of the East-African Rift. We can see that soils of Tanzanian Dry Savanna ecosystems contain niobium 11 times, beryllium and molybdenum 6 times, and titanium and zirconium 4 times as high as compared to the respective crust concentrations (darks) of these metals. In the Ugandan soils, the chromium content is 7 times higher... 

Strontium, barium, manganese, copper, molybdenum, and nickel are elements of strong accumulation in plant species of African Savanna ecosystems, in spite of different content in soils and soil-forming rocks. The Cb values are >1. The other elements, like beryllium, zirconium, titanium and vanadium, are less taken up by plants and their Cb values are less than 0.5. These refer to various exposure pathways to both microbes and plants as links in biogeochemical food webs. 

Fig. 8.3. Lithium, beryllium and iron. The symbol [Fe/H] denotes the logarithm of the ratio of Fe/H for the star and Fe/H for the Sun. The evolution of lithium and beryUium in the halo [Fe/H] < — 1 is a classic example. The lithium content remains independent of the iron content in halo stars. This is known as the Spite plateau, named after the two French astronomers Monica and Fran ois Spite. It indicates a primordial origin (i.e. in the Big Bang). An upturn occurs just when the disk stars begin to take over. Berylhumis an archetypal example of elements created by spallation. Its abundance increases monotonicaUy by accumulation as time goes by.

Heating the ammonium beryllium carbonate solution to 95°C causes nearly quantitative precipitation of beryllium basic carbonate [66104-24-3], Be(OH)2 2BeC03. Evolved carbon dioxide and ammonia are recovered for recycle as the strip solution. Continued heating of the beryllium basic carbonate slurry to 165°C liberates the remaining carbon dioxide and the resulting beryllium hydroxide [13327-32-7] intermediate is recovered by filtration. The hydroxide is the basic raw material for processing into beryllium metal, copper—beryllium and other alloys, and beryllia [1304-56-9] for ceramic products. Approximately 90% of the beryllium content of bertrandite is recovered by this process. 

The price of beryllium oxide powder was 154/kg in 1991. The beryllium content of copper—beryllium master alloy was 352/kg. Pure beryllium powder was priced at 615/kg whereas simple shapes in vacuum hot-pressed material were priced at about 685/kg in 1991. 

Assay of beryllium metal and beryllium compounds is usually accomplished by titration. The sample is dissolved in sulfuric acid. Solution pH is adjusted to 8.5 using sodium hydroxide. The beryllium hydroxide precipitate is redissolved by addition of excess sodium fluoride. Liberated hydroxide is titrated with sulfuric acid. The beryllium content of the sample is calculated from the titration volume. Standards containing known beryllium concentrations must be analyzed along with the samples, as complexation of beryllium by fluoride is not quantitative. Titration rate and hold times are critical therefore use of an automatic titrator is recommended. Other fluoride-complexing elements such as aluminum, silicon, zirconium, hafnium, uranium, thorium, and rare earth elements must be absent, or must be corrected for if present in small amounts. Copper—beryllium and nickel—beryllium alloys can be analyzed by titration if the beryllium is first separated from copper, nickel, and cobalt by ammonium hydroxide precipitation (15,16). 

The samples of the Eastern Interior Region considered here are those shown in Figure 1 west of the dashed north-south line in Illinois. All these samples are from Illinois beds 5 and 6. This selection was made to obtain a series of samples located at increasing distances from the source area of the sediments. Because the sedimentary source for the Indiana and Kentucky coal areas are less certainly known (6), the samples from those areas are not considered here. Except for beryllium and vanadium, the minor element content of samples from those areas is comparable to samples from western Illinois. The beryllium content of all these coals was reported by Stadnichenko and others (8). The unusually high vanadium content of some of the southern coals of the Eastern Interior Region is discussed below. 

Eight grams of basic beryllium carbonate (of analysed beryllium content) are stirred with 16ml of glacial acetic acid on a hot plate or steam bath until carbon dioxide is no longer evolved. The solution is cooled and the product is filtered off by suction and air-dried. The crude material is stirred with 20ml of dry chloroform and insoluble impurities are removed by filtration. The chloroform solution is evaporated to dryness on the steam bath and the colorless crystals of the product (m.p. 285-286°C) are dried in vacuo to remove residual solvent. 

Yield — 66% (about 5.5g) based on beryllium content of the starting material. 

Yield = 85% (about 9g) based on the content of beryllium in the basic carbonate. 

Occurrences of beryllium in the earth s crust are widely distributed and estimates of Lite amount fall in the 4-6 ppm range. Forty-five beryllium-containing minerals have been identified. Only two are commercially important—beryl. 3BcO- 6SiOj, for its high beryllium content,... 

In a literature review with 115 references, factors influencing the pyrophoricity of metals are identified as particle size, presence of moisture, nature of the surface of the particle, heat of formation of the oxide or nitride, mass, hydrogen content, stress, purity and presence of oxide, among others. Static charge hazards, fire and explosion incidents, handling procedures and transport considerations are also discussed. References are given to reviews of incidents involving barium, beryllium,... 

Activation with 14 MeV neutrons has been used to determine the oxygen content of various metals such as beryllium 20>, Cl, F, O, Na, Si, and various rare earths in complex molten salt electrolytes 45>, the protein content of food products by means of the nitrogen content 46>, i60/180 and 14N/15N isotopic ratios in stable isotope tracer experiments 47,48), and in a wide variety of other applications. One application we... 

Khlopin, V. G., and Sh. A. Abidov Radioactivity and helium content of beryllium, boron and lithium minerals, of the USSR. Compt. rend, acad. sci. URSS 32, 637 (1941). 

Fig. 14.9. The amount of hydrogen re-deposition with beryllium depends on the impurity content present in the redeposited layers...

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