1, superalloy
A large part of niobium in the world is used to produce nickel, chromium and superalloy in the form of pure metal or high purity ferroniobium and niobium-nickel alloy. These alloys can be used in jet engines, gas turbine engines, rocket parts, turbochargers and heat-resistant burners. Niobium will form γ phase in the grain structure of superalloy.
These alloys usually contain up to 6.5% niobium. Inconel7 18 alloy is a nickel-based alloy containing niobium. The contents of each element are: nickel 50%, chromium 18.6%, iron 18.5%, niobium 5%, molybdenum 3. 1%, titanium 0.9% and aluminum 0.4%. Applications include high-end fuselage materials, such as those used in Gemini projects.
2. Nb-based alloy
C- 103 is a niobium alloy, which contains 89% niobium, 10% hafnium and 1% titanium. Can be used for liquid rocket propulsion nozzle, such as the main engine of Apollo lunar module. Apollo service module uses another niobium alloy. Because niobium will begin to oxidize above 400°C, in order to prevent it from becoming brittle, a protective coating must be coated on its surface.
3. Medical application
Niobium also plays an important role in surgery. It can not only be used to manufacture medical devices, but also be a good "biocompatible material", because it has excellent corrosion resistance, will not interact with various liquid substances in the human body, will hardly damage biological tissues, and can adapt to any sterilization method.
Discovery history of niobium;
Charles Hatchett became interested in a sample marked as columbite when he was inspecting the ore in the British Museum. He speculated that it contained a new metal, and he was right. He heated the sample with potassium carbonate, dissolved the product in water, and added acid to get a precipitate. However, further processing failed to produce the element itself, and he named it columbium, which has been known for many years.
Others are skeptical about holmium, especially after the discovery of tantalum the following year. These metals appear together in nature and are difficult to separate. 1844, German chemist Heinrich Ross proved that columbium contains these two elements, and he named columbium niobium. "Columbium" (symbol Cb) is Hutchett's earliest name for new elements.