Skip to main content

Neodymium Element and Its Applications

Neodymium(Nd) is the one of the rare earth metals with atomic number 60. Neodymium is a soft, bright-silvery metal that tarnishes in air meaning it oxidizes in ordinary air. It takes a year for a centimeter-sized neodymium to be completely oxidized. Neodymium slowly reacts with cold water and quickly with hot water to form neodymium hydroxide. In addition, neodymium vigorously reacts with halogens to form neodymium halides and readily dissolves in dilute sulfuric acid to form +3 neodymium ions. Neodymium was discovered by Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach in Vienna in 1885 by separating it from a material known as didymium. Starting in the 1950s, high purity neodymium, above 99%, was primarily obtained through ion-exchange process from monazite. The neodymium itself could be also obtained by electrolyzing neodymium halide salts. Due to its unstable state in nature, neodymium almost does not exist as pure element. Hence, neodymium is mostly extracted from ores such as monazite and bastnasite. Neodymium is the second abundant rare earth element, contained as 38mg/kg in Earth’s crust, following cerium. The world’s production of neodymium is nearly 7000 ton per year.

Neodymium is used cryocoolers due to its unusually large specific heat capacity
Neodymium is used to promote plant growth because of its similarities to Ca2+and Nd3+
Compounds containing neodymium is frequently used as fertilizer in China
Neodymium magnets are used in microphones, professional loudspeakers, in ear headphones, guitar and bass guitar pick-ups, and computer hard disks where low mass, small volumes or strong magnetic fields are needed
Neodymium magnets are used in electric motors, which are responsible for development of purely electrical model aircraft
Neodymium is used in electric motors of hybrid and electric automobiles, and in electricity generators of some design of commercial wind turbines
Neodymium ion, which exists in small amounts in certain transparent materials, is used in lasers as gain media for infrared wavelengths
Neodymium is used to color glass in delicate shades ranging from pure violent through wine-red and warm gray

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Applications

General Information about Molybdenum Trioxide                                                     Molybdenum trioxide is chemical compound with the formula MoO3. Its chief application is as an oxidation catalyst and as a raw material for the production of molybdenum metal.  Molybdenum Trioxide  is a very light blue powder. Molybdenum Trioxide Nanoparticles/Nanopowder and Their Applications                                                    Like many  nanoparticles/nanopowder , Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/nanopowder are used as catalysts. These catalysis reactions include hydrogenation catalysis and cracking catalysis. Molybdenum Trioxide nanoparticles/  nanopowder are useful for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rundown about Silicon Oxide Wafer

The main insulating material used in micro-technology is Silicon Dioxide, which in chemical symbols is written as SiO2. In semiconductor technology, SiO2 thin film layers are mainly used as dielectric material film in transistors, capacitors (DRAM) or flash-memories. Silicon Oxide Wafers are produced using crystallization, solid state and other ultra-high purification processes such as sublimation. This process forms a cylindrical ingot, which is then sliced and polished to form wafers. Thermal oxide is a kind of "grown" oxide layer, compared to CVD deposited oxide layer, it has a higher uniformity, and higher dielectric strength, it is an excellent dielectric layer as an insulator . In most silicon- based devices, thermal oxide layer play an important role to pacify the silicon surface to act as doping barriers and as surface dielectrics. The simplest way to produce an insulating silicon oxide layers (SiO2) on silicon wafers is to oxidize silicon with oxygen, which ...
Post a Comment
Read more

New Way of Deaf-Mute Communication with 3D Graphene

Image retrieved from: http://blogs.rsc.org/cc/2016/09/01/3d-graphene-adds-dimension-to-deaf%E2%80%93mute-communication/ Chinese scientists have developed wearable electronic device with conductive 3D graphene structure to translate sign language into written text. This technology can be applied by injecting graphene ink from a syringe under printed electronic field. For medical field, such as adhesive patches which determine heart, brain signal and neural activity, wearable and bio-integrated medical devices are very important. Due to noticeable properties of cast graphene, for example a 2D honeycomb lattice, excellent mechanical and electrical behaviors, Graphene has an important material in warble technology. However, it is difficult to preserve advantages of Graphene material in a 3D material which has an information about forces from every angle. Yanlin Song  and co-workers at the University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and Shenyang Jianzhu University...
Post a Comment
Read more