What Are The Main Uses Of Molybdenum

Molybdenum is a metal element used mainly in the steel industry. Most of it is used in industrial steel molybdenum compaction and used directly in steelmaking or cast iron. A small part is smelted into ferromolybdenum-molybdenum foil and then used in steelmaking. It enhances the strength, hardness, weldability and toughness of the alloy and enhances its high temperature strength and corrosion resistance.

Although molybdenum is mainly used in the steel industry, it has been widely used in other alloys and chemical fields due to its various properties.

Experiments have shown that molybdenum compounds have low toxicity, which is one of the distinguishing features of molybdenum from other heavy metals.

Molybdenum resources:

1. Reserves

Molybdenum never appears as a natural element, but is always combined with other elements. Although there are many molybdenum minerals found, the only industrially valuable value is molybdenite (MoS2), a natural sulfide of molybdenum. In the deposit, the molybdenite has a general grade of 0.01% to 0.50% and is often combined with sulfides of other metals, particularly copper.

The world's molybdenum resources are mainly distributed in the western mountainous areas of North America and South America. The United States is the world's largest molybdenum producing country and the world's largest molybdenum reserve, with 5.4 million tons, accounting for almost half of the world's total molybdenum reserves.

2, the deposit

Molybdenum deposits can be divided into the following three types:

Primary molybdenum ore, mainly extracting molybdenite concentrate;

Secondary molybdenum ore, separating molybdenum from the main product copper;

Symbiotic molybdenum ore, the industrial exploitation value of molybdenum and copper in this type of molybdenum deposit is equal.

Molybdenum alloy:

A colored alloy composed of molybdenum as a matrix and other elements. The main alloying elements are titanium, zirconium, hafnium, tungsten and rare earth elements. Titanium, zirconium and hafnium not only strengthen the solid solution of the molybdenum alloy, but also maintain the low temperature plasticity of the alloy, and also form a stable, dispersed carbide phase, which improves the strength and recrystallization temperature of the alloy. Molybdenum alloy has good thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and low expansion coefficient. It has high strength at high temperature (1100~1650 °C) and is easier to process than tungsten. It can be used as the grid and anode of the electron tube, the supporting material of the electric light source, and the parts for making the die casting and extrusion die, the spacecraft. Since molybdenum alloys have low-temperature brittleness and weld brittleness, and high temperatures are easily oxidized, their development is limited. Industrially produced molybdenum alloys include molybdenum, titanium, zirconium, molybdenum, and molybdenum rare earth alloys. The main strengthening pathways for molybdenum alloys are solid solution strengthening, precipitation strengthening and work hardening. Molybdenum alloy sheets, strips, foils, tubes, rods, wires and profiles can be obtained by plastic processing, which can also improve the strength and improve the low temperature plasticity.

Molybdenum alloys are widely used because of their many properties, such as high strength (2000 ° C), low coefficient of thermal expansion, excellent thermal and electrical conductivity, and high corrosion resistance to molten glass, molten salt and molten metal. It also improves the wear resistance of thin coatings.