Russia has made its first own sample of beryllium

Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) together with JSC "Siberian Chemical Plant" (SCC, the company fuel company TVEL state corporation "Rosatom") was the first Russian sample strategically important metal beryllium, according to RIA News .

At the moment, the full production cycle of mining and manufacturing of products from beryllium has only three companies in the world. They are located in the United States, China, and, more recently, has been manufacturing at JSC "UMP", which is part of the National Atomic Company of Kazakhstan (Kazatomprom).

Beryllium is a strategic and expensive material, its consumption worldwide is only about 400-440 tons per year, half of them in the United States. To replace this material is widely used steel, titanium and graphite compounds.

As the press service of the SCC, the sample produced at the plant beryllium was introduced in late 2014. Now we are discussing the possibility of the production of this metal in the future.

The development of production technology of beryllium at the expense of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation is TPU. Vice-rector of the university for Research and Innovation Alexander Dyachenko explained that the first batch of metal laboratory was 100 grams. "We received the first bar, the first Russian beryllium. This year we will develop technology that cheapen it, "- he explained.

The main areas of use of beryllium:

• alloying. Adding a small fraction of beryllium can significantly improve the mechanical properties of the material. Widely used in the manufacture of springs with great compression cycle (hourly and weapons), as well as the operation of the springs in extreme conditions (alloy does not lose its properties in compression even at red heat).
  
• X-ray technology. Low poglaschaemost beryllium X-ray makes an excellent material for the manufacture of windows X-ray tubes.
  
• Nuclear Energy. Is used as a neutron moderator and reflector. Beryllium oxide is an excellent conductor of heat, and mixed with the uranium oxide is used in the manufacture of high-performance fuel. Beryllium fluoride in the alloy with lithium fluoride is used as a coolant and solvent salts of uranium, plutonium, thorium molten-salt in high nuclear reactors.
  
• Laser Technology. Aluminate of beryllium used in the manufacture of solid state emitters.
  
• Aviation and Space. Due to the diagonal similarity with aluminum, beryllium is perfect for the aerospace industry. Based alloys can be up to one and a half times lighter and yet stronger than many other specialty steels and alloys. Some sources of the aviation industry argue that in today's large aircraft has more than a thousand pieces of бериллиевой Bronze .
  
   Some properties of beryllium:
  
  
  • The density of beryllium: 1, 848 g / cm³ (Aluminum - 2, 6989 g / cm³, steel - 7, 701-7, 9 g / cm³, uranium - 19, 05 g / cm³).
  • One of the hardest metal in its pure form (second only to osmium, tungsten and uranium), but at the same time fragile.
  • has a high modulus of elasticity - 300 GPa (Steels 200 - 210 GPa).
  • In the 2-3 times better than any other metal sound waves.
  • < a href="https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C">Бериллиевая Bronze not subject to metal fatigue over time under load only the alloy becomes stronger.
  • The volatile and soluble beryllium compounds are poisonous, including dust.
  • It is considered one of the best refractory materials.
     A major player in the market is considered to be the United States of beryllium, which gained control over most of the field, then used in aeronautical engineering, even during the Second World War. Serious reserves of the metal, and the US has on its territory, Utah. According to some reports the most popular stocks oxide BeO, about 1 400 thousand tons, and world reserves of beryllium is 80 000 thousand tons.
    
    At the moment, the market is growing beryllium due to its use in application areas - in the manufacture of telecommunications equipment, computer and automotive engineering, as well as due to the rapid growth of the Asian market.
    
    In the coming years, scientists TPU plan to operate on raw materials from Rosrezerva, but expect to start production of raw materials from Ermakovskogo deposits in Buryatia. According Dyachenko industrial production of beryllium could begin in 2020.
    
    Source: geektimes.ru/post/244896/