Niobium is a silvery-gray, rare, fluffy and ductile transition metal whose oxide, niobium pentoxide, acts similarly to aluminum oxide and zinc oxide to protect the interior of metals from corrosion.
1. Niobium can be added to stainless steel, stainless steel at high temperatures is not easy to crack, reduce the sensitivity of steel overheating and tempering brittleness, improve strength, toughness and high temperature creep properties. 2. Niobium thermal neutron absorption cross-section is small, good corrosion resistance, high-temperature strength, can be used as a structural material for atomic energy reactors and nuclear fuel packaging materials, can also be used as a nuclear fuel additives. 3. Niobium's superconducting transition temperature is high, niobium compounds and alloys can make superconducting materials. Niobium's thermal ion emission performance is good, can make vacuum tube suction agent and mortgage rectifier. 4. Niobium and niobium alloys have high melting point and still have high strength at 1650℃. However, at high temperatures easy to generate no protective effect of niobium oxide oxide film, therefore, in addition to improving the basic alloy's own antioxidant properties, but also need to tint the protective coating to ensure that the metal's high-temperature performance.
