Tantalum Carbide in Superalloys: Elevating Performance across Diverse Applications

Introduction

Superalloys are at the forefront of modern engineering and technology. One key ingredient that contributes significantly is tantalum carbide (TaC). In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into the multifaceted world of tantalum carbide in superalloys, uncovering its unique properties, diverse applications, and the pivotal role it plays in shaping cutting-edge technologies.

Superalloy Diagram[1]

The Remarkable Properties of Tantalum Carbide

Tantalum carbide is a refractory compound renowned for its exceptional hardness and high melting point. Here are some of the key properties that make it invaluable in the realm of superalloys:

  1. Outstanding Hardness: Tantalum carbide boasts an extraordinary hardness that rivals that of natural diamonds. This property makes it highly wear-resistant, and capable of withstanding abrasion and erosion even in extreme conditions.
  2. Exceptional Melting Point: With a melting point exceeding 3,700 degrees Celsius (6,692 degrees Fahrenheit), tantalum carbide can endure extreme temperatures without compromising its structural integrity. This property is vital for applications involving high heat and thermal stress.
  3. Superior Thermal Conductivity: Tantalum carbide exhibits excellent thermal conductivity, ensuring efficient heat dissipation within superalloys. This property is crucial for maintaining temperature stability in critical components.
  4. Impressive Corrosion Resistance: Tantalum carbide’s resistance to chemical corrosion makes it suitable for use in aggressive environments, where exposure to corrosive substances could compromise the integrity of materials.

Applications across Diverse Industries

Tantalum carbide finds applications in various industries, thanks to its remarkable properties:

  1. Aerospace and Aviation: Superalloys containing tantalum carbide are used in aircraft engines and gas turbine components. These materials withstand the extreme temperatures and mechanical stresses encountered during flight, contributing to engine efficiency and safety.
  2. Cutting Tools: Tantalum carbide is utilized in the production of cutting tools, such as drill bits and milling cutters. Its exceptional hardness enhances tool life and performance, leading to precise and efficient machining operations.
  3. Electronics: Tantalum carbide-coated components in electronic devices aid in dissipating heat generated during operation. This property is essential for preventing overheating and ensuring the reliability of electronic systems.
  4. Nuclear Technology: In the nuclear industry, tantalum carbide is employed as a neutron moderator due to its ability to slow down and control nuclear reactions. It plays a crucial role in the safe operation of nuclear reactors.
  5. Defense and Ballistics: Tantalum carbide is used in armor-piercing projectiles and other defense applications, where its hardness and resistance to high-velocity impacts are advantageous.
  6. Chemical Processing: Superalloys with tantalum carbide components are utilized in chemical processing equipment, where resistance to corrosion and high temperatures is essential.

Related reading: How Is Tantalum Carbide Applied?

The Future of Tantalum Carbide in Superalloys

As technology advances and industries continue to push the boundaries of performance, tantalum carbide’s role in superalloys is likely to expand further. Its unique combination of hardness, heat resistance, and corrosion resistance positions it as a critical material for addressing the evolving challenges of various high-tech applications. Whether in the skies, on the factory floor, or deep within the Earth, tantalum carbide continues to elevate the performance and reliability of superalloys, driving innovation across diverse sectors. Please check our website for more information.

 

 

Reference:

[1] D. O. M. S. A. M. (2008, September 1). ‘Super’ superalloys: Hotter, stronger, for even longer. University of Cambridge. Retrieved October 8, 2023, from https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/super-superalloys-hotter-stronger-for-even-longer

Tantalum Carbide: Revolutionizing Cutting Tools with Extreme Hardness

Introduction

Tantalum carbide (TaC) is used in cutting tools due to its exceptional hardness and high melting point, which make it well-suited for applications where wear resistance and durability are critical. Here, this article is going to discuss the specific advantages and uses of tantalum carbide cutting tools.

Tantalum Carbide Powder

Benefits of Tantalum Carbide Cutting Tools

Tantalum carbide is used in cutting tools with several advantages, making it a pivotal material in modern machining and manufacturing processes. Here’s an expanded explanation of these advantages:

  • Enhanced Hardness: TaC has a hardness that is comparable to that of diamond. When incorporated into cutting tools, it increases the overall hardness of the tool, making it highly effective at cutting and machining hard materials like steel, stainless steel, and high-temperature alloys.
  • Wear Resistance: Cutting tools, especially those used in high-speed machining operations, are subjected to significant wear due to friction and heat. TaC’s wear-resistant properties help extend the lifespan of cutting tools by reducing wear and abrasion, leading to more consistent and efficient machining.
  • High-Temperature Performance: It is known for its high melting point and resistance to thermal stress. This property is particularly advantageous in cutting applications that generate intense heat, as it helps maintain the tool’s integrity and cutting performance at elevated temperatures.
  • Improved Surface Finish: TaC-containing cutting tools can produce smoother and more precise surface finishes on machined parts, reducing the need for additional finishing operations.

Related reading: What Can We Expect to Acquire from Tantalum Carbide in the Future?

Applications of Tantalum Carbide Cutting Tools

Therefore, TaC cutting tools with tantalum carbide components find applications in a wide range of industries, including aerospace, automotive, mold and die making, and metalworking, where precision cutting and machining are essential.

  • Metal Cutting Tools: Primarily, it is often used as a component in cutting tools for machining metals, especially those that are difficult to cut due to their hardness or abrasiveness. When combined with other hard materials like tungsten carbide (WC) or cobalt (Co), it forms a composite material that can withstand the high-stress conditions of metal-cutting operations.
  • Tool Inserts: Additionally, TaC inserts are integrated into various types of cutting tools, including inserts for turning, milling, and drilling. These inserts are replaceable and allow for cost-effective tool maintenance.
  • Tool Coatings: TaC coatings can be applied to the surfaces of cutting tools, providing a hard and wear-resistant layer that extends the tool’s lifespan.
  • Drill Bits: TaC coatings or inserts are employed in the construction of drill bits, particularly for drilling hard materials such as steel, stainless steel, and superalloys. These inserts provide improved wear resistance and extended tool life.
  • Abrasive Materials: When machining abrasive materials like composites, reinforced plastics, or ceramics, TaC can be used in cutting tools to enhance their durability and performance.

Conclusion

Overall, tantalum carbide plays a crucial role in the development of high-performance cutting tools, which helps improve productivity, reduce tool wear and replacement costs, and enhance the quality of machined components. Advanced Refractory Metals (ARM) is a reliable supplier of tantalum carbide products. For more information, please check our website.

What are the Main Uses of Tantalum?

What are the Main Uses of Tantalum?

What are the basic uses of tantalum?

1 Tantalum is used to make tantalum capacitors: tantalum carbide powder and tantalum wire are the key materials for making tantalum capacitors, and they are excellent capacitors. Niobium can also be used to make capacitors.

ta powder

2 Tantalum is used to make high-temperature resistant tantalum products: tantalum can withstand high temperatures, has good strength, and rigidity, and is a high-quality material for making heating parts, heat insulation parts, and charging vessels for vacuum high-temperature furnaces.

3 Tantalum niobium is used to make corrosion-resistant tantalum niobium products: Tantalum niobium is a high-quality material resistant to acid and alkali and liquid metal corrosion and can be used in the chemical industry to make boilers, heaters, coolers, various vessel devices, etc.

4 tantalum niobium in the aerospace industry: used in the production of aerospace aircraft, rockets, submarines, and other engine components, such as combustion chambers, combustion ducts, turbine pumps, etc. Such as WC-103 Nb-Hf-Ti high-temperature niobium-based alloy is a high-quality material for astronautics, used as rocket gas pedal nozzle, spacecraft propulsion powering device and nozzle valve, etc.

5 Tantalum used to make the lining of armor-piercing ammunition: the application is currently mainly in the United States, is a missile, such as TOW2B missile.

6 Tantalum carbide as additives to cemented carbide: cemented carbide is mainly used as tools, tools, molds, and wear-resistant corrosion-resistant structural components, adding TaC can improve its hardness, strength, melting point, etc. NbC can also be used, the performance is second to TaC.

7 Niobium is the main additive for steel. The addition of niobium micro-alloyed steel, and steel grain refinement, can improve the strength and toughness of steel, about 75% of niobium applications in the field.

8 Niobium used as superconducting materials: Nb-Ti alloy is today’s widely used *, the amount of * large superconducting materials, such as Nb47Ti, there are important applications in high-energy physics, is the large hadron collider, heavy ion collider, and other high-energy particle gas pedal * selected practical superconducting materials; Nb3Sn is second only to Nb-Ti practical superconducting materials.

9 Tantalum oxide, and niobium oxide is the raw material for making tantalum-niobium artificial crystal: Ta2O5, Nb2O5 is the raw material for making LT, LN and other crystals, LT, LN is an important piezoelectric, thermoelectric and nonlinear optical materials, in the laser and micro-acoustic surface wave and other technical fields have important uses.

10 Niobium in the atomic energy industry: Nb has a small neutron capture cross-section, high thermal conductivity, and strength, and is used in atomic energy reactors as a nuclear fuel cladding material, nuclear fuel alloy additive, and heat exchanger structural material.

11 other applications: cathode sputtering tantalum coating, high vacuum suction pump tantalum active material, Nb2O5 and Ta2O5 for optical glass modifiers and chemical catalysts, Ta, Nb in medical devices and arts and crafts applications, etc.

What Products are Made of Tantalum?

What Products are Made of Tantalum?

Tantalum appears in many applications, including

– Sputtering barrels: Computer disk manufacturers and other industries that use sputtering processes are increasingly using tantalum to resist corrosion in sputtering barrels. The tantalum lining process is more environmentally friendly than chromium lining, helping the industry reduce its ecological impact.

tantalum

– Machined fasteners: Machined fasteners made from tantalum offer excellent corrosion resistance. They replace fasteners made from alternative materials that are prone to failure or require expensive equipment downtime for maintenance. Tantalum fasteners are found in industries such as mining, energy, and pharmaceuticals, as well as in metal and chemical processing.

– X-ray/radiation shielding: Tantalum’s radiopaque properties make it ideal for X-ray and shielding applications that seek to prevent radiation leakage. Tantalum shielding can also protect sensitive electronic components in aerospace structures as well as components operating in corrosive environments.

– Vacuum furnace heating elements: Many vacuum furnace components contain tantalum rods due to tantalum’s oxidation resistance and high melting point. Tantalum’s temperature particle stability increases the life expectancy of the machine, as it can withstand high temperatures for extended periods of time.

– Machined parts for chemical processing equipment: Tantalum’s corrosion-resistant properties make it the material of choice for machined parts for chemical processing equipment. Tantalum machined parts replace inferior materials that perform poorly in harsh chemical environments and require extensive maintenance.

 

The uses of tantalum

– 1: Tantalum carbide, used for cutting tools

– 2: Tantalum lithium, for surface acoustic waves, cell phone filters, hi-fi, and TV

– 3: Tantalum oxide, used in telescopes, cameras, lenses for cell phones and X-ray films, inkjet printers

– 4: Tantalum powder, used for tantalum capacitors in electronic circuits

– 5: Tantalum plate, used in chemical reaction equipment such as coating, valves, etc.

– 6: Tantalum wire, tantalum rod, used for repairing skeleton plates, suture frames, etc.

– 7: Tantalum ingots: used for sputtering targets, high-temperature alloys, computer hardware drive discs, and TOW-2 bomb-forming projectiles

 

Together with tungsten carbide WC and titanium carbide TIC, tantalum carbide TAC is a cemented carbide component used in cutting and drilling tools.

 

Tantalum is particularly suitable for heat exchangers; it has high thermal conductivity and its surface properties prevent the formation of adhesive deposits.

 

Manufacture of furnace components such as screens, supports, and crucibles. The alloying elements in high-temperature alloys increase high-temperature strength. It is biologically inert and can be used for implants, needles, etc. Yttrium tantalate YTAO4 is used in medical diagnostics.

 

SAM offers our customers a wide selection of tantalum rods, tubes, sheets, and wires, all designed for a variety of applications. Our products are cold rolled and annealed in a proprietary process to create machined parts with metallurgical properties ideal for applications such as sputtering gun tubes, processing into fasteners, X-ray radiation shielding, development rings, vacuum furnace heating elements, chlorinator springs, assemblies, and more for light bulbs or chemical processing equipment.

Overview of the Properties of Tantalum Compounds

Overview of the Properties of Tantalum Compounds

Tantalum oxide

The most useful tantalum oxide is tantalum pentaoxide (Ta2O5). Ta2O5 is white fine crystal powder, tasteless and odorless, with a specific gravity of 8.71g/cm3 and a melting point of 1870℃. Tantalum is amphoteric but apparently acidic, insoluble in water, most acids, and bases, but slowly dissolved in hot hydrofluoric and peroxy acids.

tantalum oxide

Ta2O5 has both α and βvariants, and its transition temperature is 1320℃, beyond which Ta2O5 turns white to gray. Different oxides have different crystal structures, so their lattice constants, densities, and other properties are obviously different. It is known that amorphous Ta2O5 begins to crystallize at 500℃ to form a low-temperature crystal (T type), converts to a temperature crystal (M type) at 830℃, and forms a high-temperature crystal (H type) at more than 830℃.

Tantalum halide

In tantalum halides, halogens in high-priced pentahalides are more easily replaced by oxygen to form stable halogen oxides. Most of the halogens of tantalum are volatile compounds, among which fluoride is well soluble in water and only partially hydrolyzed.

Tantalum(V) chloride (TaCl5) is a white powder and yellow when it is not pure. It has a melting point of 220℃, a boiling point of 223℃-239℃, and a specific gravity of 3.68g/cm3. It is volatile and has strong moisture absorption. It is unstable at high temperatures and decomposes to form metal tantalum at vacuum temperatures above 800℃. In addition to the high-priced TaCl5, the low-priced chlorides of tantalum include TaCl4, TaCl3, and TaCl2, which are volatile substances.

Tantalum bromide (TaBr5) is an orange crystal, soluble in water and hydrolyzed, soluble in methanol, ethanol, and CCl4, and soluble in aniline and liquid ammonia for reactions. Tantalum iodide (TaI5) is a black crystal that can be heated to sublimate without decomposition and readily hydrolyzes in moist air, releasing hydrogen iodide.

Tantalum carbide

Ta2C and tantalum carbide (TaC) are the main carbides of tantalum, and Ta2C has both alpha -Ta2C and beta -Ta2C isomers. TaC is a dark brown powder with a melting point of 3880℃, a boiling point of 5500℃ and a density of 14.4g/cm3. It has good chemical stability and can only be dissolved in mixed solutions of nitric acid and hydrofluoric acid. The carbide of tantalum is not easy to be oxidized in the air when the temperature is lower than 1000 ~ 1100℃. Nitrogen compounds are readily formed by the action of nitrogen or ammonia.

Tantalum hydride

Tantalum hydrides are very stable at room temperature in the air. Hydrogen is released by decomposition when heated to 1000 ~ 1200℃ under a high vacuum. Below 350℃, tantalum almost has no interaction with hydrogen, and the reaction speed increases with the increase of temperature. At a certain temperature and pressure, the maximum hydrogen content in tantalum hydride corresponds to H/Ta of 0.02 ~ 0.08(TaH0.2 ~ TaH0.8).

Tantalum nitride

There are three kinds of tantalum nitride: TaN, Ta2N, and Ta3N5. Tantalum nitrite is a bluish-gray powder with a melting point of 2980 ~ 3090℃ and a density of 14.4g/cm3. It is insoluble in nitric acid, hydrofluoric acid, and sulfuric acid, but soluble in hot alkaline solution and releases ammonia or nitrogen. Tantalum nitride generates oxides when heated in air, releasing nitrogen.

Tantalum selenite

TaSe2, its resistivity is 2.23 x 10-3 Ω. Cm, with the relative friction coefficient of 0.08 in the air at room temperature, the oxidation temperature of 600 ℃ in air, and the decomposition temperature of 900 ℃ in a vacuum.

Tantalum silicone

The main silicide of tantalum is TaSi2, and there are also some other compounds such as Ta2Si and Ta5Si3. Ta2Si has a melting point of 2200 ℃, a density of 8.83 g/cm3 and a resistance of 8.5 Ω. Cm. It is not eroded by mineral acids, but can be decomposed by hydrofluoric acid, and can be completely decomposed by molten Na2CO3 and NaOH.

Tantalate

Ta2O5 can be fused with oxides, hydroxides, or carbonates of more than 50 elements from all 8 groups in the periodic table of chemical elements to form various complex types of tantalates, which may be expressed in the following general formula: xMeO•yTa2O5 (Me = alkali metal).

Almost all alkali tantalates have a high degree of polymerization in aqueous solution and are insoluble compounds in water solution. Alkali tantalate can be reduced by hydrogen: 2MeTaO3+H2=Me2O+2TaO2+H2O, with a reaction temperature of 600~700℃. Except for alkali tantalates, most tantalates are insoluble in water.

Most tantalate crystals (such as lithium tantalate) are ferroelectric. They belong to the category of thermoelectric devices that have spontaneous polarization. Their polarization value is related to electric field voltage and has Curie temperature. Tantalum ferroelectric materials also have the characteristics of voltage, electro-optic and nonlinear optics. Some tantalates are semiconductor materials with narrow channels and are important materials for manufacturing electronic industrial components.

Stanford Advanced Materials supplies high-quality tantalum products to meet our customers’ R&D and production needs. Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.

Applications of Tantalum in the Electronic Industry

Applications of Tantalum in the Electronic Industry

Tantalum and its alloy have a high melting point, corrosion resistance, excellent high-temperature strength, and are free of radioactive, etc, are widely used in the electronics industry, chemical industry, aerospace, weapon system, the medical field, etc. Applications of tantalum materials in the electronic industry mainly include tantalum capacitors, integrated circuits, electron tubes, storage devices, and passive devices.

tantalum

Tantalum Capacitors

Tantalum capacitors have strong corrosion resistance and can maintain stable electrical and physical and chemical properties under various environmental conditions. In addition, it also has a high resistance rate (7.5 x 1012 Ω cm), a large dielectric constant (27.6), and a small leakage current.

Tantalum Capacitors
Tantalum Capacitors

Tantalum has the characteristics of a valve metal, and the dense oxide film generated on its surface has unidirectional conductivity, which is suitable for capacitors. Tantalum capacitors are large in capacity and small in volume. Their capacitance is three times that of aluminum capacitors, while their volume is much smaller than that of aluminum capacitors. The tantalum capacitor has a working temperature range of 80 ~ 200 ℃, so it can meet the demand of different temperatures. In addition, tantalum capacitors also have strong stability and heat resistance, which makes them highly reliable materials in the electronics industry, as well as widely used in military and high-tech fields that need to ensure high reliability.

Integrated circuit

Tantalum has been introduced into the semiconductor industry as a barrier layer film material to prevent the diffusion of copper atoms to silicon wafers. Copper does not form a compound with tantalum and nitrogen, so tantalum and tantalum base films are used as a barrier layer to prevent the diffusion of copper. In order to prevent copper atoms from diffusing into silicon matrix, tantalum nitride, tantalum silicide, tantalum carbide, tantalum nitride silicide, tantalum nitride carbide, and other tantalum base films are used as barrier layers with good effects.

Tantalum-based films have high conductivity, high thermal stability, and excellent corrosion resistance, which are highly resistant to foreign atoms.

Tantalum
Tantalum in Semiconductor Chips

Memory device

Tantalum oxide based resistance variable memory (RRAM) has the advantages of simple structure, fast reading and writing speed, strong miniaturization and compatibility with the CMOS process. Tantalum oxide material has good thermal stability that can reach 1100 ℃. There are only two stable phases between the tantalum and oxygen, namely Ta2O5 and TaO2, which also have two very high oxygen capacity ratio under the high temperature of 1000 ℃.

Passive device

When tantalum nitride film is exposed to air, an oxide layer will naturally form on the surface to protect the film from erosion in the presence of water vapor and voltage. Tantalum nitride chip resistors do not cause catastrophic failure of the device due to poor package or protective coating integrity.

At present, the application field of capacitor grade tantalum wire is further expanded with the rapid development of the electronic market. However, the development of tantalum capacitors has been greatly restricted due to various reasons, such as the increase in production cost, the further consumption of resources, and the intensified competition among ceramic capacitors.

Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.

Why is Tantalum Widely Used in Electronic Industry?

Why is Tantalum Widely Used in Electronic Industry?

Since the 1950s, TZM alloy (Mo-0.5 Ti-0.1 Zr-0.02 C) has been developed to meet the needs of the nuclear power system, aviation, and aerospace industry. It is the most widely used molybdenum alloy in the industry and the earliest refractory alloy used as a high-temperature structural material. However, the low-temperature brittleness of molybdenum alloy greatly limits its application.

tantalum metal

Tantalum metal has a lower plastic brittle transition temperature (196 ℃) and has better performance on the workability, weldability, ductility, and oxidation resistance at room temperature than that of molybdenum and tungsten in refractory metals. In addition, tantalum and its alloys with high melting point (2996 ℃), corrosion resistance, excellent high-temperature strength, and free of radioactive, etc, are widely used in the electronics industry, chemical industry, aerospace, weapon system, and the medical field, etc.

Tantalum metal
Tantalum metal

The applications of tantalum materials in the electronics industry mainly include tantalum capacitors, integrated circuits, electron tubes, memory devices, and passive devices.

Tantalum capacitor

Tantalum has the metal property of a valve, and the compact oxide film formed on its surface has unidirectional conductivity, which is suitable for making capacitors. Tantalum capacitors have a large capacity and small volume, and their capacitance is three times that of aluminum capacitors, but their volume is much smaller than that of aluminum capacitors. The working temperature of the tantalum capacitor ranges from -80 to 200 ℃, which can meet the demand of different temperatures. Besides, tantalum capacitors have strong stability and heat resistance performance and become a kind of material with high reliability in the electronics industry, which is widely used in military and high-tech fields that need to ensure high reliability.

Tantalum capacitor
Tantalum capacitor

Integrated circuit

Tantalum material is introduced into the semiconductor industry as a barrier layer thin-film material used to prevent the diffusion of copper atoms to silicon wafers. There are no compounds are formed between copper and tantalum, and copper and nitride, so tantalum and tantalum base membranes are used as barrier layers to prevent copper diffusion, and the typical thickness of the barrier layer is 0.005 ~ 0.01μm. In order to prevent the diffusion of copper atoms into the silicon matrix, tantalum nitride, tantalum silicide, tantalum carbide, and silicon nitride are used as barrier layers.

Memory device

Tantalum oxide matrix resistive memory (RRAM) has the advantages of simple structure, fast read and write speed, strong instability, and compatibility with the CMOS process. The permittivity of tantalum oxide material is very high, which is about 25. Moreover, there are only two stable phases between ta-O, Ta2O5 and TaO2, which have high oxygen capacity ratio under the high temperature of 1000 ℃.

Passive device

When tantalum nitride film is exposed to air, the surface will naturally form a layer of the oxide layer to protect the film from erosion in the presence of water vapor and voltage. The chip resistance of tantalum nitride will not cause catastrophic failure of the device due to the poor integrity of the package or protective coating.

RRAM
RRAM

When researchers discovered tantalum’s high-temperature resistance, good ductility, and corrosion resistance, the research on tantalum metal began. At present, the application field of capacitor grade tantalum wire is further expanded with the rapid development of the electronic market. However, the development of tantalum capacitors is greatly restricted due to various reasons, such as the increase in production cost, the further consumption of resources, and the intensification of the competition between ceramic and other capacitors.

In recent years, the market consumption of capacitor tantalum wire has been maintained at about 160 tons per year. With the development and use of military capacitors and the miniaturization and chip type of capacitors, the capacitor-grade tantalum wire gradually develops toward the thick and thin poles.

Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.

Overview of the Metal Tantalum

Overview of the Metal Tantalum

Tantalum is a kind of refractory nonferrous metal with a hardness of 6-6.5. Its melting point can reach 2996 ℃, which is second only to tungsten and rhenium. Tantalum is malleable and can be drawn into thin foil, and it has a very small coefficient of thermal expansion, which is only 0.6 percent for every degree rise.

metal tantalum

Tantalum also has excellent chemical properties and is highly resistant to corrosion. Tantalum does not react with hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid, and aqua regia under both cold and hot conditions. The experiments showed that tantalum did not react with the alkali solution, chlorine gas, bromine water, dilute sulfuric acid, and many other agents at room temperature, but only with hydrofluoric acid and hot concentrated sulfuric acid, which is relatively rare in metals.

Tantalum

Tantalum has a wide range of applications due to its excellent performance. For example, tantalum can be used as a substitute for stainless steel in the production of various inorganic acids. Besides that, tantalum can replace tasks that used to be undertaken by precious metal platinum in chemical, electronic, electrical, and other industries, thus greatly reducing the cost. Tantalum is manufactured into capacitor equipment for military use, and half of the world’s production of tantalum is used in tantalum capacitors. America’s military industry is unusually advanced, and it is the world’s largest arms exporter. The Defense Logistics Agency, the largest owner of tantalum, once bought a third of the world’s tantalum powder.

Tantalum is a kind of stable anodic oxide film in the acidic electrolyte. The electrolytic capacitor made of tantalum has the advantages of large capacity, small volume, and good reliability. Capacitor making is the most important use of tantalum, and the consumption of tantalum accounts for more than 2/3 at the end of the 1970s. Tantalum is also used to make electronic transmitter tubes and high-power tube parts. Moreover, Tantalum metal can be used as the structure of the combustor of the aircraft engine.

Tantalum and its alloys are widely used in all walks of life. Tantalum and tantalum-hafnium alloys are often used as heat-resistant, high-strength materials for rockets, missiles, and jet engines, as well as components for control and adjustment equipment. Tantalum is easy to be processed and shaped, so it is used as supporting accessories, heat shield, heater, and radiator in the high-temperature vacuum furnace. Tantalum carbide is used to make cemented carbide.

Boride, silicified, and nitride alloys of tantalum are used as heat release elements and liquid metal sheathing materials in the nuclear industry. Tantalum oxide is used in the manufacture of advanced optical glass and catalysts. In 1981, tantalum was consumed by about 73% of electronic components, 19% of the machinery industry, 6% of transportation, and 2% of the rest.

Stanford Advanced Materials supplies high-quality tantalum products to meet our customers’ R&D and production needs. Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.