Niobium metal

To convert to cal, divide by 4.184. To convert mPa to )J.m Hg, divide by 133.3. lACS = International Annealed Copper Standard. Pure copper Table 2. Corrosion of Niobium Metal = 100%. ... 

A process has been developed to recover niobium from ferroniobium (30). The need for this process came about when Brazil would only export niobium in the form of ferroniobium. The process starts with a hydriding step, so as to be able to cmsh the alloy. Screening precedes a nitriding step, followed by an acid leach of the iron nitrides. This leaves the niobium nitride for further processing to the pure niobium metal. 

Niobium is used as a substrate for platinum in impressed-current cathodic protection anodes because of its high anodic breakdown potential (100 V in seawater), good mechanical properties, good electrical conductivity, and the formation of an adherent passive oxide film when it is anodized. Other uses for niobium metal are in vacuum tubes, high pressure sodium vapor lamps, and in the manufacture of catalysts. 

Niobium Pent chloride. Niobium pentachloride can be prepared in a variety of ways but most easily by direct chlorination of niobium metal. The reaction takes place at 300—350°C. Chlorination of a niobium pentoxide—carbon mixture also yields the pentachloride however, generally the latter is contaminated with niobium oxide trichloride. The pentachloride is a lemon-yeUow crystalline soHd that melts to a red-orange Hquid and hydrolyzes readily to hydrochloric acid and niobic acid. It is soluble in concentrated hydrochloric and sulfuric acids, sulfur monochloride, and many organic solvents. 

Niobium Pentabromide. Niobium pentabromide is most conveniently prepared by reaction of bromine with niobium metal at ca 500°C. It is a fairly volatile yellow-red compound that is hygroscopic and readily hydrolyzes. It is soluble in water, alcohol, and ethyl bromide. 

Niobium Pentaiodide. Brass-yeUow crystals of niobium pentaiodide are formed by direct reaction of excess iodine with niobium metal in a... 

One was Ekeberg s tantalum and the other he called niobium (Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus). Despite the chronological precedence of the name columbium, lUPAC adopted niobium in 1950, though columbium is still sometimes used in US industry. Impure niobium metal was first isolated by C. W. Blomstrand in 1866 by the reduction of the chloride with hydrogen, but the first pure samples of metallic niobium and tantalum were not prepared until 1907 when W. von Bolton reduced the fluorometallates with sodium. 

TaF5 and NbF5 are prepared from their respective oxides by fluorination with fluorine, F2, or with anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, HF [73-75]. Rakov et al. reported the interaction between niobium metal and anhydrous hydrogen fluoride as being the most effective way of preparing NbF5 [76]. 

Modem processing of tantalum and niobium metals and their compounds is related to the treatment of fluoride compounds. Hence, successful technological improvements, the development of novel methods and the manufacturing of high-grade products depend on the application of technological achievements in the area of fluorine chemistry. 

The production of tantalum and niobium metals by reduction of fluoride melts... 

Several methods are described for the production of tantalum and niobium metal. Metals can be obtained by reduction of pentachlorides with magnesium, sodium, hydrogen or by thermal decomposition in vacuum [24,28]. Oxides can be reduced using carbon, aluminum, calcium, magnesium [28, 537, 538] or alkali and rare earth metals [539]. 

In order to produce coarse-grained tantalum or niobium powder it is recommended to perform the reduction of molten K2TaF7 or K2NbF7 with sodium or potassium in the presence of tantalum or niobium metal particles, which are added to aid nucleation [582]. It is reported that tantalum powder with an average particle size of 2.7-4.2 pm was obtained at a yield of 90.1-94%. 

Rare earth metals, as well as alkali earth metals, can be used as oxygen getters in the purification of tantalum powder. Osaku and Komukai [608] developed a method for the production of tantalum and niobium metal powder by a two-step reduction of their oxides. The second step was aimed at reducing the oxygen content and was performed by thermal treatment with the addition of rare metals. The powder obtained by the described method is uniform, had a low oxygen level and was suitable for application in the manufacturing of tantalum capacitors. 

Hard coating forthe protection of niobium metal. 

Having established the feasibility of niobium metal production by the carbothermic reduction of niobium pentoxide under temperature and pressure conditions readily attainable in the laboratory and in industry, the principles of efficient process execution may now be examined. In a high-temperature vacuum furnace operation, the quantity of gas that is to be pumped off can influence the choice of the vacuum process. When the reduction of niobium pentoxide with either carbon or niobium carbide is attempted according to the following overall equations ... 

Oxygen and carbon have substantial solid solubilities in niobium at the temperatures normally required for reduction. As the activity coefficients of both carbon and oxygen in niobium are low, their retention in the niobium metal produced by the carbothermic reduction of niobium oxide is expected. It is, however, possible (as explained later) to remove these residual impurities by extending the pyrovacuum treatment to still higher temperatures and lower pressures. 

The principles of tantalum metal formation by the carbothermic reduction of tantalum pentoxide and the technology of tantalum metal production by this method are similar to those pertaining to niobium metal production by carbothermy. 

In the aluminothermic reduction of niobium oxides, the products must reach a temperature of at least about 2470 °C, and hence the heat required to raise niobium metal and alumina from room temperature to this temperature must be estimated. Using the values of the heat capacities and the heats of fusion for niobium and alumina, the following figures can be obtained ... 

The excess aluminum in the charge compensates for the loss of aluminum due to nonreductive air oxidation, and also provides aluminum for alloying with the niobium metal produced in the reduction. As mentioned earlier, the liquidus temperatures of niobium-aluminum alloys are lower than the melting point of niobium. The melting of this alloy and the alumina slag is achieved even with the reduced amount of heat available from the reaction implemented without preheating in the open reactor. 

Both vanadium and niobium metals form dihydrides only at high pressures(27), and numerous phases with hydrogen compositions less than one(28). Experiments were performed to saturate vanadium clusters with deuterium. Figure 4 is a plot of the number of deuteri urn molecules found in the products. The solid straight lines are for D V ratios of 1 and 2. The corresponding curved dashed lines include corrections for some bulk atoms(2c). The best fit to the data including only surface atoms indicate a stoichiometry of 1.5. It is likely that this high surface stoichiometry is an indication of bulk i ncorporation of deuterium. 

Ninhydrin, 22 101 Ninhydrin-color reaction amino acids, 2 570 Niobates, 27 152-153 24 315 Niobia-phosphate catalytic aerogels, 2 763t Niobic acid, 27 152 Niobic salts, 27 152-153 Niobium (Nb), 27.132-157 24 313, 315. See also Nb-Ti entries Niobium compounds Niobium metal analytical methods for, 27 142-144 dissolution methods for, 27 142 economic aspects of, 27 140-142 effect on stainless steel corrosion resistance, 7 809... 

As mentioned in the introduction, early transition metal complexes are also able to catalyze hydroboration reactions. Reported examples include mainly metallocene complexes of lanthanide, titanium and niobium metals [8, 15, 29]. Unlike the Wilkinson catalysts, these early transition metal catalysts have been reported to give exclusively anti-Markonikov products. The unique feature in giving exclusively anti-Markonikov products has been attributed to the different reaction mechanism associated with these catalysts. The hydroboration reactions catalyzed by these early transition metal complexes are believed to proceed with a o-bond metathesis mechanism (Figure 2). In contrast to the associative and dissociative mechanisms discussed for the Wilkinson catalysts in which HBR2 is oxidatively added to the metal center, the reaction mechanism associated with the early transition metal complexes involves a a-bond metathesis step between the coordinated olefin ligand and the incoming borane (Figure 2). The preference for a o-bond metathesis instead of an oxidative addition can be traced to the difficulty of further oxidation at the metal center because early transition metals have fewer d electrons. 

Refined niobium metal is most useful as an alloy with other metals. It is used to produce special stainless steel alloys, to make high-temperature magnets, as special metals for rockets and missiles, and for high- and low-temperature-resistant ceramics. Stainless steel that has been combined with niobium is less hkely to break down under very high temperatures. This physical attribute is ideal for construction of both land- and sea-based nuclear reactors. 

There are several processes for extracting and refining niobium from its ores. (Payton, P.H. 1981. Niobium and Niobium Compounds. In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 3 . ed., Vol, 15, pp. 820-827. New York Wiley Interscience). The process of choice depends on nature of the ore and end use intended for the metal. Some common steps in these recovery processes involve ore preconcentration, breaking or opening the ore, obtaining pure niobium compounds, reduction of niobium compounds to niobium metal, purification or refining metal and fabrication. If niobium is extracted from a niobium-tantalum ore, the most important step is separation of niobium from tantalum, both of which are chemically very similar. 

Niobium metal absorbs nitrogen, similar to hydrogen, forming interstitial solid solution. The absorption occurs at 300°C and the solubility of nitrogen in the metal is directly proportional to the square root of the partial pressure of nitrogen. The reaction is exothermic and the composition of such interstitial solid solution varies with the temperature. When the metal is heated with nitrogen at temperatures between 700 to 1,100°C, the product is niobium nitride, Nb2N or (NbNo.s) [12033-43-1]. When heated with ammonia at these temperatures, niobium forms this nitride. Another niobium nitride exists, NbN [24621-21-4], with a face-centered cubic crystalline structure. 

Niobium pentachloride is used in making niobium metal and several niobium compounds. 

Niobium pentachloride is obtained as an intermediate during extraction of niobium from its ores (see Niobium). Also, the pentachloride is obtained readily by direct chlorination of niobium metal at 300 to 350°C ... 

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