Tantalum rectifier

Tantalum pentoxide is used in making high refractive index optical glass as a dielectric film on tantalum for its use as a capacitor component and rectifier and for preparing tantalum metal, its carbide, and many other tantalum compounds. 

Vanadium has found important application in the manufacture of special steels, and tantalum is being increasingly employed for electrolytic rectifiers. It seems probable that the industrial application of these elements will increase in the future, and that uses will also be found for niobium. 

The electrolytic aluminium rectifier includes an aluminium electrode and mother electrode of carl ion, iron or load. Both electrodes are suspended so that they face one another and are immersed in a solution of alkali borates, phosphates or carbonates. In a tantalum rectifier a solution of potassium carbonate, ammonium carbonate or sulphuric acid is used the othev electrode being made of lead. The maximum voltage of the alternating current to be rectified must of course be lower than the breakdown voltage of the rectifier. When the rectifier cell is working, hydrogen is evolved at the tantalum or aluminium electrode while at the lead electrode oxygen is liberated. 

Rectifiers without moving parts are aluminium or tantalum rectifiers, vacuum tube rectifiers, contact rectifiers and mercury-arc rectifiers. The first two types of rectifiers, the function of which has already been described in the theoretical section of this book are suitable for laboratory purposes only. Likewise vacuum tube rectifiers can also be used where a medium output is required these tubes act as valves allowing the alternating current to pass through in one direction only they are built for both low (up to 100 V) and high voltage (up to 10 000 V). 

Tantalum is resistant to corrosion and for this reason is employed both in chemical research and plant. The element has minimal foreign body reactions in human tissue and finds a place in surgery. It is used in electrolytic rectifiers and in capacitors. These applications are possible because of the thin anodic film that can be formed on the metal in oxoacid electrolytes. 

Bismuth Selenium Tantalum rectifiers, selenium Cadmium rectifying tubes Boron nitride recycling... 

The major use, however, more than 60% of the total consumption, of tantalum is very special. The metal is very widely used for electronic components, mainly capacitors. The dielectric necessary for a capacitor is simply the passive layer. Applications for this type of capacitor are mobile telephones and other communication systems and instruments for controlling ships, aircraft, missiles and weapons systems. Tantalum is also used for rectifiers in low-voltage systems such as railway-signal systems. 

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