Tantalum can be used as solid electrolytic capacitor with large capacity, small size and stable performance. It is used in radar, missile, supersonic aircraft and electronic computer. Tantalum also makes petrochemical heat exchangers, heaters, concentrators and reactor tanks, towers, pipelines and valves. Tantalum is also used as a component material for electron tubes and high-power tubes.
Tantalum alloy can be used as supersonic aircraft combustion chamber and heat-resistant and high-strength material. Tantalum-tungsten alloy missile nozzle still has 8kg/mm2 strength at 1650℃. Tantalum carbide can be used alone or in combination with other carbides for coating forgings, cutting tools, jet engine turbine blades, valves and rocket nozzles. Tantalum carbide is as hard as diamond and is widely used to make hard alloys. Tantalum also possesses stability and healing properties with human tissues. It can be used as a surgical complement material and artificial bone, as well as bone plate, screw, clip rod and suture needle.
It is mainly found in tantalite and coexists with niobium. Purpose: used in metal alloy. Tantalum pentoxide is used in capacitors. Tantalum is also used in cutting tools, vacuum filaments, and camera lenses. Tantalum is very hard, with a hardness of 6 to 6.5. It has a melting point of 2996 ° c, the third highest after tungsten and rhenium. Tantalum is malleable and can be drawn into thin foil. Its coefficient of thermal expansion is very small, only 6.6 per cent per degree Celsius rise. In addition, it is very tough, better than copper. Tantalum also has excellent chemical properties and is extremely resistant to corrosion. Hydrochloric acid, concentrated nitric acid and “ Aqua regia & throughout; Nothing. When tantalum is immersed in sulfuric acid at 200℃ for one year, the surface damage is only 0.006mm. It is proved that tantalum has no effect on alkali solution, chlorine gas, bromine water, dilute sulfuric acid and many other agents at room temperature. This is rare in metals. Tantalum has a wide range of applications due to its characteristics. Tantalum can be used to replace stainless steel in the production of various kinds of inorganic acids. In addition, in chemical, electronic, electrical and other industries, tantalum can replace the task previously required by the precious metal platinum, so that the cost is greatly reduced. Tantalum is made into capacitors for use in military equipment. The United States has an unusually developed military industry and is the world's largest arms exporter. Half of the world's tantalum production is used to make tantalum capacitors, and the U.S. department of defense logistics is the largest owner of tantalum, at one point buying up one-third of the world's tantalum powder.
