Stock Supplies

These sizes are in stock, subject to prior sale. We also supply other sizes and alloys as well. See additional material information below.

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sheet

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plate

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wire

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  • .094" Dia x R/L Coil

rod

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tubing

  • .125" OD x .015" wall x R/L
  • .187" OD x .020" wall x R/L
  • .250" OD x .020" wall x R/L
  • .312" OD x .020" wall x R/L
  • .375" OD x .025" wall x R/L
  • .500" OD x .030" wall x R/L
  • .625" OD x .050" wall x R/L
  • .750" OD x .060" wall x R/L
  • .875" OD x .040" wall x R/L

Tantalum Facts & FAQs

Tantalum (pronounced tan-ta-lum) is number 73 on the periodic table. Its high melting point makes it desirable for use in vacuum-furnace components such as:

  • Support racks
  • Shielding
  • Heating elements

Furnaces using tantalum components are normally used for very specific applications, for instance furnaces used to vacuum-treat tantalum powders, because of tantalum’s high cost. In these applications, tantalum components serve to prevent powder contamination. Other high-temperature uses include filaments and heating elements for specialized process and chemical analysis equipment.

Tantalum has one of the highest melting and boiling points of all the chemical elements [3017 °C (5462 °F) and 5458 °C (9856 °F), respectively]. Its density (16.7 g/cm3), is nearly half again as high as lead’s (11.3 g/cm3). Its thermal conductivity [35 W/(M・K)] is quite low, only 20%-25% of molybdenum’s or tungsten’s, and less than half of iron’s. Its thermal expansion coefficient (6.3・10-6 K-1) is about 30%-40% higher than tungsten’s and 50% greater than molybdenum’s.

What Are The Benefits of Using Tantalum?

Tantalum has a unique advantage over many other metals – it forms an extremely stable oxide. This property is key to many tantalum applications. The largest is in high- capacitance, high-reliability capacitors. The next largest is for pressure vessels used in chemical processing equipment. The oxide film also makes tantalum highly biocompatible, so tantalum is frequently used in medical applications as well.

Is Tantalum Resistant To Corrosion?

Thanks to the properties of its oxide, tantalum is perhaps the metal most highly resistant to attack by both oxidizing and reducing acids, making it ideal for handling aggressive chemicals. As a result, Ta tubing is used for heat exchangers in a wide variety of chemical plants.

Large pressure vessels can be loosely clad with tantalum, or bonded to a cladding layer using controlled explosions to create an intimate, pore-free interface between the structural material and tantalum. Tantalum is used in valves that regulate the flow of process chemicals, and in dip probes that sparge vessel contents. Tantalum screws, bolts, and fixtures provide nearly unlimited service life in these applications.

 

 

How Are Tantalum Capacitors Made?

Tantalum capacitors are made from loosely sintered, electrically interconnected metal powder particles having a tantalum oxide coating. The oxide is the capacitor’s dielectric material, the interconnected powder particles are its anode, and a conductive medium infiltrated into the pore structure and connected to an external terminal is its cathode. The extremely small particles have a large surface area, which creates a large-area dielectric layer and allows a much larger amount of charge to be stored per unit volume of capacitor than in traditional designs that use metal foil.

For example, a commercially available tantalum capacitor powder has a surface area of about 1 m2 per gram. If a single gram of tantalum could be rolled into a sheet with a surface area of 1 m2, that sheet would be about 10 nm thick to be able to make an equivalent capacitor! Digital devices depend heavily on these tiny, highly efficient capacitors to minimize device size, enabling us to carry in our pockets mobile phones with more computing power than early computers that filled entire rooms.

Tantalum Applications In Health and Medical Equipment

Tantalum also appears in medical and health care applications. Thanks again to its oxide coating, tantalum is inert to bodily fluids and is highly biocompatible. Its high density makes it an efficient X-ray absorber, so tantalum stents and implants are easier for surgeons to image and monitor using X-rays during implantation.

Traditional stent materials like Nitinol are coated with nanostructured tantalum to improve their X-ray visibility, enhancing stent manipulation and placement. Devices such as hip and knee joints, skull plates, suture clips, and mesh used to repair bone can all be made from tantalum.

Tantalum Applications In Computer Components

Tantalum plays an important role in solid-state device manufacture and operation. As flat-panel displays grew larger and larger, their thin-film aluminum conductors could not transmit signals fast enough, leading to display performance problems. Copper conductors could easily solve the problem, but the silicon devices had to be protected from contamination by copper diffusion during high-temperature processing. A tantalum thin film under the copper conductors solved the problem since the thin film stopped copper diffusion into the silicon device and the tantalum did not diffuse into either the silicon or copper.

Today, device manufacturers require tantalum sputtering targets specially processed to maximize thin-film uniformity. Tantalum thin films also are an important part of ink-jet printer heads, where high elastic modulus and resistance to corrosion make tantalum the material of choice for printer-head ink chambers.wordgames

MATERIAL INFORMATION

ASTM B708, ASTM B365, R05200
ASTM Certifications upon request
No cutting fee for custom lengths
Custom Sizes Available
Custom Stocking Plans Available

Technical Information

Tantalum is a rare, hard, blue-gray, lustrous transition metal that is highly corrosion-resistant. It is part of the refractory metals group, which are widely used as minor components in alloys. The chemical inertness of tantalum makes it a valuable substance for laboratory equipment and a substitute for platinum.

Atomic Weight: 180.95
Density: 16.6 g/cc
Melting Point: 3290 K, 2996°C, 5462°F
Boiling Point: 5731 K, 6100°C, 9856°F
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion: (20°C) 6.5 x 10-6/°C
Electrical Resistivity: (20°C) 13.5 microhms-cm
Electrical Conductivity: 13% IACS
Specific Heat: .036 cal/g/°C
Thermal Conductivity: .13 cal/cm2/cm°C/sec

Tantalum is clearly the top of the line for corrosion resistance. The only media that can affect it are fluorine, hydrofluoric acid, sulfur trioxide (including fuming sulfuric acid), concentrated strong alkalis, and certain molten salts.

The corrosion resistance of tantalum can be compared to that of glass, although tantalum withstands higher temperatures and offers the intrinsic fabrication advantages of a metal. Tantalum equipment is frequently used in conjunction with glass, glass-lined steel, and other nonmetallic materials of construction. Tantalum is also used extensively to repair damage and flaws in glass-lined steel equipment.

Because of its high cost and lack of strength compared to its easy fabricability, tantalum is usually used as a lining over a stronger, less expensive base material.

Mass:
Density at 20° C gm/cc - 16.6
Density at 20° C lb/in 3 - 0.600


Thermal Properties:
Melting Point, °C - 2966
Boiling Point, °C - 6100
Linear Coefficient of Expansion per °C - 6.5 x 10-6
Thermal Conductivity at 20°C, cal/cm2/cm°C/sec. - 0.130
Specific Heat, cal/g/°C; 20°C - 0.036

Electrical Properties:
Conductivity, % IACS - 13%
Resistivity, microhms-cm; 20°C - 13.5
Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity per °C (0-100°C) - 0.0038

Mechanical Properties:
Tensile Strength at room temperature, psi - 35,000-70,000
Tensile Strength-500°C psi - 25,000-45,000
Tensile Strength-1000°C psi - 13,000-17,000

Young's Modulus of Elasticity; lb/in2:
Room Temperature - 27 x 106
500°C - 25 x 106
1000°C - 22 x 106

Spectral Emissivity:
(Wave Length approx. 0.65) - 0.46 (900°C)

Working Temperature: Room

Recrystallizing Temp: 1000-1250°C

Stress Relieving Temp: 850°C

Metallography:
Etchant - Alk.K3FE(CN) sol
Polishing - Alumina - Rouge to finish

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