What is antimony ingot?
Antimony Ingot What is it?
Antimony Ingot Element Symbol : Sb; Antimony is a rare silvery-white metal. Antimony ingots are toxic, brittle, non-ductile, thermally shrinkable, cold-expandable, and corrosion-resistant. Antimony belongs to group VA, with an atomic number of 51, a relative atomic mass of 121.75, a density of 6.684 g/cm³, a melting point of 630.74℃, and a boiling point of 1750℃. Antimony is an oxygen-loving copper element. Based on its physical properties, it is commonly used in flame retardants, alloy hardeners, and battery alloy materials, and is rarely used alone.
Human use of antimony ingots can be traced back to BC. As early as 3100 BC, antimony trisulfide was used as eye shadow in pre-dynastic Egypt. Around the 17th century, antimony was considered a chemical element; electrolytic antimony was first produced in 1896. China is one of the earliest countries in the world to discover and use antimony. It is recorded as "Lianxi" in the Han Shu, Liang Huo Zhi, and Shi Ji. In the late Ming Dynasty (1541), China discovered the world's largest antimony mine in Hunan Province - Xikeng (located in Lengshuijiang City). China's earliest antimony mine was built in 1897. Industrially valuable antimony mines are limited. According to Asian Metal Net statistics, there are currently over 120 known antimony ingots minerals, but only some have industrial value, antimony ingots with only 10 minerals containing more than 20% antimony. These include stibnite antimony (Sb) 71.4%, valentinite (83.3%), Chinese antimony (83.3%), arsenopyrite antimony (74% 79%), arsenopyrite antimony (74.5%), sulfur antimony, oxygen antimony Chinese antimony (75.2%), native antimony (100%), sulfur antimony, mercury antimony (51.6%), sulfur antimony ingots (35.5%), and chalcocite antimony (25%). Antimony is mainly found in stibnite (Sb2S3), which is an important mineral raw material in ore dressing and metallurgy.
Antimony ingots, along with rare earths, tungsten, and tin, are one of China's four major strategic resources. Their importance is mainly reflected in:
(1) Very scarce reserves: antimony ingots Unevenly distributed in the earth's crust, extremely difficult to enrich (in the form of sulfide and sulfide minerals). Its average content is only two to five parts per million, close to (0.5 PPM). According to data from the United States Geological Survey, as of the end of 2018, global antimony reserves were 1.5 million tons, slightly higher than precious metals and some rare metals.
(2) Wide range of uses and substitutability: Antimony is an indispensable important raw material in modern industrial production, widely used in the production of various flame-retardant materials, metals, glass, semiconductor devices, medicine, chemicals, and defense, playing an important role in ensuring the sustainable development of the national economy, and is known as "industrial MSG." Among them, the thermal shrinkage and cold expansion characteristics of antimony can change the hardness of the alloy, and antimony metal alloys are used in various defense weapons; the high strength and corrosion resistance of antimony make it a key production material for mechanical gear shafts. Low-flammability antimony is used to make a substitute flame retardant, and antimony trioxide is added to flammable materials such as plastics, electrical and electronic products, and building materials to form halogenated flame-retardant materials, which is a mandatory practice in developed countries such as Europe and the United States. Currently, there is no better substitute for antimony as a flame retardant.
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