Rare earth is a collective name of 17 metallic elements, known as the “modern industrial vitamin”, is an important strategic mineral resource in China, has been widely used in national defense, aerospace, special materials, metallurgy, energy and agriculture and many other fields. China is the world’s largest rare earth reserves and production country, of which Baotou city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous Region has 83.7% of the national reserves, 37.8% of the global reserves, Bayan Obo mine is the world’s largest rare earth mine.
Rare earth metals and their alloys play a deoxidation and desulphurization role in steelmaking, which can reduce the content of both to less than 0.001%, change the shape of inclusions, refine grains, so as to improve the processing performance of steel, improve strength, toughness, corrosion resistance and oxidation resistance. Rare earth metals and their alloys are used in the manufacture of nodular cast iron, high-strength gray cast iron and vermicular cast iron, which can change the form of graphite in cast iron, improve the casting process, and improve the mechanical properties of cast iron (alloy steel, cast iron).
Rare earth polishing powder is used to polish various glass devices, CeO2 is used to decolorize glass and improve its transparency. Pr6O11, Nd2O3, etc., used for glass coloring; La2O3, Nd2O3, CeO2, etc. are used in the manufacture of special glass; In the ceramic industry, rare earths can be used to make ceramic glazes, refractories and ceramic materials. Single high purity rare earth oxides such as Y2O3, Eu2O3, Gd2O3, La2O3, Tb4O7 are used to synthesize a variety of fluorescent materials, such as color TV red phosphor, projection TV white phosphor, ultra short persistence phosphor, various lamp phosphor, X-ray enhanced screen phosphor and light conversion fluorescent materials.
Rare earth metals are an important part of modern high-tech new materials. A series of compound semiconductors, electro-optical materials, special alloys, new functional materials and organometallic compounds composed of rare earth metals and non-ferrous metals require rare earth metals with unique properties. The amount is small, but it is vital. Therefore, it is widely used in contemporary communication technology, electronic computers, aerospace development, medicine and health, photosensitive materials, photoelectric materials, energy materials and catalyst materials. China is rich in rare earth metal minerals, which provides better resource conditions for the development of rare earth metal industry.
Post time: Jan-04-2024