Can the metal “tantalum” be used for rings?
Yes, it can.
Tantalum is extremely resistant to corrosion and does not react to hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid, or aqua regia in either cold or hot conditions.
Tantalum’s pro-biological properties make it medically useful for making thin sheets or threads to mend damaged tissue. It is also harmless to the human body when made into rings and jewelry, and can be worn without worry.
Tantalum itself is harmless to humans and is as biophilic as silver, titanium, niobium, and other metals. However, tantalum and niobium may be mixed with rare earth elements during the smelting and extraction process, resulting in a little radioactivity, but pure tantalum is very safe.
Tantalum and niobium -a symbol of love?
Niobium and tantalum are in the same group in the periodic table and have very similar physical and chemical properties. In nature, they are often “inseparable”, like a pair of “twins”. When niobium and tantalum were discovered in the early 19th century, they were thought to be one element, and it was only after about 42 years that they were separated for the first time by chemical analysis, and it became clear that they were two different metallic elements.
Tantalum (Ta) niobium (Nb) are high melting point (tantalum 2996 ° C, niobium 2468 ° C), high boiling point (tantalum 5427 °C, niobium 5127 °C) rare metals, the appearance of steel-like, gray-white luster, powder dark gray, with gas absorption, corrosion resistance, superconductivity, unipolar conductivity and high strength at high temperatures, and other characteristics.
Therefore, the current tantalum niobium new material applications related to high-tech industrial fields include electronics, precision ceramics, and precision glass industry; electro-acoustic optical devices; cemented carbide, astronautics, and electronic energy industry; biomedical engineering; superconductivity industry; special steel and other industries.
Niobium-tantalum has good resistance to physiological corrosion and biocompatibility and does not interact with body tissues, so it is often used in the manufacture of bone plates, skull plate bone screws, dental implant roots, surgical appliances, etc. Tantalum is also known as a “biophilic metal” because it replaces bone in the human body with tantalum strips on which muscles can grow.
This is why they are also known as a “pro-biological metal”. Therefore, there are no allergies when using them for rings, and the price is better. Because tantalum is almost twice as dense as niobium, a tantalum ring of the same size will be more textured, darker in color, and more expensive than a niobium ring.
Because they have always coexisted in nature, we can also define them as a good brother or a loving couple, if you want to buy a pair of rings you can consider buying one each of tantalum and niobium, which has a better meaning!