Niobium is mainly used in steel industry to manufacture various alloy steel, heat resistant alloy, niobium base alloy and niobium carbide. Niobium is one of the main alloying elements in steel. In ordinary steel adding 0.02% ~ 0.05% of the trace metal niobium, can make the strength of the steel increased by 20% ~ 25%, and at the same time can improve the mechanical and welding performance of steel, and can improve the heat resistance and corrosion resistance of steel, reduce the brittleness of steel, because of niobium steel with the excellent performance, so, can be used in the rocket, the spacecraft heat shield, electric reactor structural materials and nuclear fuel cladding materials. Niobium is also widely used in the field of low temperature superconductivity and other fields. Superconducting materials are mainly used in the manufacture of accelerators and nuclear magnetic resonance. High purity niobium is the main material used in the production of laser-controlled crystals in electro-optical systems. China is the world's largest consumer of niobium resources.
The extraction methods of scandium mainly include extraction, ion exchange and precipitation. Due to the variety of scandium-containing minerals, the mineral composition of scandium-containing ores is complex, and scandium content is very low. Therefore, there is no general extraction process at present. According to the characteristics of different system, commonly used method of scandium has the TBP - oxalic acid precipitation, sulfuric acid decomposition - carbonate precipitation and diethyl ether extraction, alkali treatment and hydrolysis - oxalic acid precipitation - the TBP extraction - ammonia precipitation, precipitation - thiosulfate oxalate precipitation - iodate precipitation, precipitation synthesis, the TBP extraction - - CCL4 extraction, methyl isobutyl ketone extraction - oxalic acid precipitation, extraction, ion exchange, precipitation, etc.
Niobium is used as an additive in iron, nickel and zirconium based superalloys to enhance their strength. Niobium is suitable for reactor planning materials and nuclear fuel cladding materials in the atomic energy industry and for thermal protection and planning materials in the aerospace and aerospace industries. Niobium capacitors are similar to tantalum capacitors, but the density of niobium is small and the capacitance per unit volume is large. Titanium niobium, zirconium niobium, tin niobium, aluminum niobium and germanium compound superconducting materials are not only used to transmit electricity, generate electricity, manufacture superconducting magnets and control nuclear fusion, but also used in navigation equipment of international aircraft, electromagnetic propulsion equipment of high-speed diving ships and superconducting superclass high-speed trains. Niobium acid corrosion resistance than zirconium, as tantalum, heat exchangers, condensers, filters, agitators, etc. Niobium carbide can be used alone or in conjunction with tungsten carbide and molybdenum carbide for hot forging dies, cutting tools, jet engine turbine blades, valves, tail skirts and rocket nozzles. Alloy steel containing niobium has high strength, good tolerance and resistance to cold quenching. It is widely used in oil pipeline.
