Niobium was discovered in 1801 by the British chemist Hatchett when he analyzed a type of columbite ore in North America. In 1864, Brunsden used a strong hydrogen flame to reduce niobium chloride to niobium.
The naming of niobium has an interesting story. Because the ore that Hatchett was studying was discovered in the United States, which was also known as Colombia, the new element was named "columnium" in commemoration of Colombia.
However, in 1802, the Swedish chemist Ekberg discovered "tantalum" which has very similar properties to "columbium" (the difference in atomic radius between the two is only 4.2%). Therefore, the two were considered to be the same element for a long time, including many famous chemists at that time, such as Berzelius, who only used the name "tantalum".
It was not until 1845 that the German chemist Luo Ze pointed out that "column" and "tantalum" were two different elements. Since the properties of the two elements were very similar, Luo Ze called "tantalum" (actually "column"). It became "Niobium", and pure metal niobium was only obtained in 1907.
Niobium is named after Niobo, the daughter of King Tantalus of Lydia in ancient Greek mythology.
For many years, the element niobium has retained two names, "columbium" in the United States and "niobium" in Europe. It was not until 1951 that the Nomenclature Committee of the International Association of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially decided to adopt " Niobium" is the official name of the element. Now American chemists have switched to the name "niobium", but metallurgists and metal industry circles sometimes still use the name "columbium".
In 1802, when the Swedish chemist Ekberg was analyzing a mineral produced in Scandinavia (niobium-tantalum ore), he made their acid form a fluoride double salt and then reprocessed it. crystallized, and tantalum was discovered. In 1814 Berzelius determined that it was indeed a new element and agreed to give it the name tantalum ("tantalum"). The original meaning is "to trouble people" because it is not easy to separate from niobium. The oxides and salts of niobium and tantalum were studied as early as 1824, but pure metal malleable tantalum was not produced until 1903 by reducing fluorotantalate with metallic sodium. The production of tantalum metal only began to enter industrial scale in 1929. There is a theory that the name of tantalum comes from the name of Tantalus, the king of Lydia in ancient Greek mythology. According to legend, Tantalus was punished by being tortured in hell for offending the gods. When he stood neck-deep in water and thirsted for a drink, the water swirled downwards and disappeared; when he was hungry and tried to eat fruit from a fruit tree only inches away from him, the branches It shook out of his reach. Tantalum metal has extremely unusual acid resistance and can even withstand aqua regia. Tantalum is in acid, and the acid has no greater effect on it than the water had on Tantalus when he stood in it. So the metal tantalum was named after Tantalus. But because the word tantalize ("fool") in English is also derived from the name of Tantalus, some people think that tantalum was named because the discoverer was tantalized (fooled) before finding it and almost missed discovering it. opportunity. This statement is obviously inappropriate.
Niobium and tantalum, the "twin brothers", make sense to introduce them together, because they are in the same family in the periodic table of elements, have very similar physical and chemical properties, and are often " "Inseparable", growing together in nature, they can truly be called a pair of inseparable "twin brothers".
Niobium and tantalum, like tungsten and molybdenum, are rare high-melting-point metals, and their properties and uses also have many similarities.
Since they are called rare high melting point metals, the most important feature of niobium and tantalum is of course heat resistance. Their melting points are as high as 2400°C and nearly 3000°C respectively. Not to mention that ordinary fires cannot burn them, even the sea of ??flames in the steel-making furnace can't help them. No wonder that in some high-temperature and high-heat departments, especially the manufacturing of vacuum heating furnaces above 1600°C, tantalum metal is a very suitable material.
When we introduced tungsten-molybdenum alloy steel earlier, we have seen that the excellent properties of one metal can often be "transplanted" into another metal. The current situation is also the same. Adding niobium as an alloying element to steel can increase the high-temperature strength of the steel and improve its processing performance. Niobium and tantalum cooperate with a series of metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, nickel, and cobalt to produce a "thermally strong alloy" that can be used as a structural material for supersonic jet aircraft, rockets, missiles, etc. At present, scientists have begun to turn their attention to niobium and tantalum when developing new high-temperature structural materials. Many high-temperature and high-strength alloys include these twin brothers.
Niobium and tantalum themselves are very strong, and their carbides are more durable. This characteristic is no different from that of tungsten and molybdenum. Cemented carbide made of niobium and tantalum carbides as a matrix has high strength and resistance to pressure, wear and corrosion. Among all hard compounds, tantalum carbide has the highest hardness. Tools made of tantalum carbide can withstand high temperatures below 3800°C, have a hardness comparable to diamond, and have a longer service life than tungsten carbide.
The wonderful use in surgical treatment
Tantalum also plays an important role in surgical treatment. It can not only be used to make medical devices, but also is a good "bioadaptable material".
For example, tantalum sheets can be used to repair skull injuries, tantalum wires can be used to suture nerves and tendons, tantalum strips can replace broken bones and joints, and tantalum gauze or tantalum mesh made of tantalum wires , can be used to compensate for muscle tissue...
In hospitals, there will be situations like this: after using tantalum strips to replace broken bones in the human body, after a period of time, the muscles will actually grow on the tantalum strips Grows just like growing on real bones. No wonder people call tantalum a "biophilic metal".
Why does tantalum have such a unique effect in surgery?
The key is that it has excellent corrosion resistance, does not interact with various liquid substances in the human body, and almost does not damage biological tissue at all, and can be adapted to any sterilization method. Therefore, it can be combined with organic tissue for a long time and remain harmlessly in the human body.
In addition to its good use in surgery, the chemical stability of niobium and tantalum can also be used to make electrolytic capacitors, rectifiers, etc.
In particular, more than half of tantalum is currently used to produce large-capacity, small-volume, and high-stability solid electrolytic capacitors. Hundreds of millions of such capacitors are now produced around the world every year.
It now appears that tantalum electrolytic capacitors have not "lived up" to people's high expectations. It has many advantages that other materials cannot match. It has a capacitance five times greater than that of other capacitor "brothers" of the same size. It is also very reliable, shock-resistant, has a wide operating temperature range, and has a long service life. It is now widely used in electronic computers, radars, missiles, and supersonic aircraft. , automatic control devices and electronic circuits of color TVs, stereoscopic TVs, etc.
Creating miracles at ultra-low temperatures
However, what surprised us the most is that they can not only work tenaciously in extremely high-temperature environments, but also in ultra-low temperatures. Excellent service to us, they are amazing.
Children, some of you may know that there is such a temperature called "absolute zero", and its zero degree is equivalent to -273.16℃. Absolute zero is considered to be the lowest temperature possible.
People have discovered a long time ago that when the temperature drops to close to absolute zero, the chemical properties of some substances will suddenly change and become a "superconductor" with almost no resistance. The temperature at which matter begins to possess this bizarre "superconducting" property is called the critical temperature. Needless to say, the critical temperatures of various substances are different.
You must know that ultra-low temperatures are difficult to obtain, and people pay a huge price for it; the closer you get to absolute zero, the greater the price you have to pay. Therefore, our requirement for superconducting materials is, of course, that the higher the critical temperature, the better.
There are many elements with superconducting properties, among which niobium has the highest critical temperature. The critical temperature of alloys made of niobium is as high as the absolute temperature of 18.5~21K, making it the most important superconducting material at present.
People once did such an experiment: a metal niobium ring that was cooled to a superconducting state was connected to an electric current and then disconnected. Then, the entire instrument was sealed and kept at a low temperature. Two and a half years later, people opened the instrument and found that the current in the niobium ring was still flowing, and the intensity of the current was almost exactly the same as when it was first powered on.
It can be seen from this experiment that superconducting materials hardly lose current. If superconducting cables are used to transmit power, because it has no resistance, there will be no energy loss when the current passes through, so the power transmission efficiency will be greatly improved.
Someone has designed a high-speed maglev train. Its wheels are equipped with superconducting magnets, allowing the entire train to float about ten centimeters above the track. In this way, there will be no friction between the train and the track, reducing resistance to progress. A maglev train carrying a hundred people can reach a speed of more than 500 kilometers per hour with only 100 horsepower (73.5 kilowatts) of propulsion.
Using a 20-kilometer-long niobium-tin ribbon wrapped around a 1.5-meter-diameter rim, the winding can generate a strong and stable magnetic field, enough to lift a 120-kilogram weight and make it It is suspended in magnetic space. If this magnetic field is used in thermonuclear fusion reactions and the powerful thermonuclear fusion reactions are controlled, it will be possible to provide us with a large amount of almost endless cheap electricity.