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Yttrium

Lanthanum

Cerium

Praseodymium

Neodymium

Samarium

Europium

Gadolinium

Terbium

Dysprosium

Holmium

Erbium

Thulium

Ytterbium

Lutetium

Scandium

Rare Earths


	Markets Rare Earths--The Vitamin of modern industry!

"The Vitamin of modern industry", the rare earth elements have had a unique and important impact on our lives, especially in the industrial age of the twentieth century. This trend is certain to continue in the twenty-first century as research and development efforts uncover new applications for these little known materials in our increasingly high-tech world. The unsaturated 4f electronic structure of rare earth elements makes them have special properties in luminescence, magnetism and electronics, which could be used to develop many new materials such as phosphors, magnetic and magnetostrictive materials, hydrogen storage materials and catalysts.

Glass

Rare Earth products are used in glass applications as colorants, stabilizers and UV absorbers. They are also used as modifiers to increase the refractive index and decrease dispersion of high purity glass. Concentrates are used in mirrors, cut crystal glass, TV screens and cathode ray tubes and polishing compounds. Purified compounds are also used as additives to optical, safety, radiation shielding and crystal glass and for lasers, fluorescent lights and opticals.

La-containing glass has high refraction and low scattering, thus being used in lenses for all kinds cameras. Er-containing fiber optics is used to replace the relay stations in the traditional optical transmission, Cerium is used in television glass to absorb UV rays and is added to glass to add or suppress color. Cerium is also used as a polishing agent for production of high performance optical glass such as lenses for digital cameras and telescopes. Nd-containing glass is a wonderful material for lasers. Gd and Y are used to produce special glass.

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Erbium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, Scandium

Catalyst

Growth in auto catalysts is very strong in response to legislation on lower emission levels, auto-emission converters will be a must for new vehicles in which rare earth is used as a catalyst, thus lowering the consumption of precious metals in the fields.
Rare Earth catalyst can raise gasoline production by 5% and increase the capacity of the cracking equipment by 20-30%. Rare earth can also be employed in paints drier and thermal stabilizer for plastics and so on..

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Lanthanum, Cerium, Yttrium, Scandium

Metallurgy

Rare earth elements are chemically active, so they can remove impurities in iron and steel such as nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and other elements. In addition, they can also modify the morphology of sulfide and graphite so as to refine grains and strengthen matrix of cast iron. Mischmetal widely used in the iron and steel industry and the production of nickel metal hydride batteries, which is widely used in portable electronic equipment with smaller size and longer life span.

Rare Earth alloys such as Sc-Al, Sc-Mg, Y-Al, Y-Mg and Nd-Mn are widely used in metallurgy, acting as strong de-oxidizers and to increase resistance to corrosion at high temperatures.

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Lanthanum, Cerium, Neodymium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Thulium, Scandium, Yttrium

Ceramics

Ceramic powders are necessary ingredients in most engineering ceramics, electronic ceramics and ceramic coatings. With telecommunications being one of the largest ceramic industries, dielectric resonators, ceramic filters and multi-layer capacitors are continually being developed to increase performance. Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2, Nd2O3, La2O3 and Y2O3 are used to make different kinds of advanced ceramics.

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Lanthanum, Cerium, Praseodymium, Neodymium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Ytterbium, Scandium, Yttrium

Rare Earth Magnets

Between 1997 and 2001 the demand for rare earth permanent magnets grew at 21% per year. Rare earth metals of Neodymium, Dysprosium, Samarium, Terbium and Praseodymium are widely used in the production of permanent magnets of NdFeB, SmCo and SmFeN, which are mainly used in automobile, computer, and telecommunications industries to improve performance and efficiency. One of the largest magnetic applications in the automobile industry is to improve fuel efficiency by saving weight in the motor using these small size magnets.

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Praseodymium, Neodymium, Samarium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium

Rare Earth Phosphors

Rare earth compounds are known to emit distinct and different wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, the three main phosphor applications using rare earths are color cathode ray tubes, tri-phosphor fluorescent lamps, and x-ray intensifying screens, in which Y2O3 and Eu2O3 of 99.99% pure play a key role, in addition, high purity La2O3, CeO2 and Gd2O3 are used.

Related mostly Rare Earth elements:

Cerium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Ytterbium, Yttrium

Other applications

Some other promising applications of Rare Earth products include: Lasers, Superconductors, Data storage, Optical fibers, Nuclear uses, Magnetostrictive alloys, Magnetic refrigeration; Cement additive, Paints and coatings, etc.
Magnetic refrigeration now under industrial experiment is a typical example, which is characterized by low cost and pollution free and will cause a revolution in refrigeration industry if commercialized. Giant magnetic resistance material has a capacity potential hundreds of times larger than that of commonly-used information storage elements today. PDP phosphor will help realize thin and large screen for color TV and computer monitor. And fuel cell will provide the final solution for pollution free power sources for electronic products and electric vehicles.