Tantalum can form stable compounds with carbon and non-metallic elements in stainless steel tubes, and its action is similar to niobium, which can change the mechanical properties of stainless steel tubes and improve the quality of steel. At present, although tantalum-containing steel pipe is not common, with the continuous development of national economy, tantalum-containing steel pipe will be widely used.
There have been many articles on the chemical and physical properties of tantalum, which will not be repeated here. Only the basic chemical properties related to the analytical method are briefly described as follows: the compounds formed by tantalum in stainless steel tubes, such as Fe2Ta, can be decomposed by various inorganic acids to form tantalum acid precipitation. The chemical properties of tantalum and niobium are very similar. Tantalum and niobium are easily hydrolyzed in acidic solution to form tantalic acid precipitation. If oxalic acid or tartaric acid is added, stable complexes can be formed in the solution. In many methods for the determination of tantalum, most of the elements in tantalum and stainless steel tubes are separated out by acid hydrolysis before being determined by gravimetric method or colorimetric method.
