37 Beryllium Uses in Different Industries

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Beryllium is an alkali earth metal belonging to group IIA and having an atomic mass of 9.012 u. Let us discuss the industrial uses of beryllium in a different field.

Beryllium is an alkali metal that is used in different industries–

  • Metal industry
  • Radiation industry
  • Mechanical Industry
  • Ceramic Industry
  • Magnetic industry
  • Nuclear Industry
  • Electronics Industry
  • Acoustics

Beryllium is a hard metal with having brittle character having hexagonal lattice structure. In the following part of the article, we should discuss the uses of beryllium in different industries.

Metal industry

  • Making of low-density metals as it has one-third of the density of aluminium.
  • Used in cellular phones instead of steel because it is six times more rigid than steel and absorbs more heat compared to steel.
  • Beryllium is used for the process of roasting, fitting, and grinding the ores for extracting different metals.
  • Used in automotive, defense, and aerospace industries because of its unique properties of strength, electrical and thermal conductivity, magnetic transparency, and corrosion resistance.
  • In high-reliability elements in products such as airbag sensors.
  • Beryllium is also used in re-extinguisher sprinkler heads, x-ray windows for mammography, medical laser bores, pacemakers, landing-gear bearings, and weather satellites.

Radiation industry

  • The most important application of beryllium is in radiation windows for X-ray tubes because of its low atomic number and very low absorption for X-rays.
  • As window on high-resolution x-ray machines used for mammography.
  • Thin beryllium foils are used as radiation windows for X-ray detectors.
  • Beryllium is used in Large Hadron Collider the Tevatron because it is relatively transparent to energetic particles.

Mechanical Industry

  • In different lightweight structural components in the defense and aerospace industries like high-speed aircraft, guided missiles, spacecraft, and satellites.
  • Several liquid-fuel rockets have used rocket nozzles made of pure beryllium.
  • Beryllium powder was studied as a rocket fuel.
  • A small number of extremely high-end bicycle frames have been built with beryllium.
  • The engine components of many automobile industries are made of beryllium.
  • Beryllium nickel alloys are used near flammable gases in non-sparking tools.
  • Beryllium iron are used in surgical instruments and high-temperature devices in springs and membranes.
  • Beryllium is used in precision instrumentation, e.g. in inertial guidance systems and the support mechanisms for optical systems.
  • Beryllium-copper alloys were also applied as a hardening agent in “Jason pistols“, which were used to strip the paint from the hulls of ships.
  • For cantilevers in high-performance phonograph cartridge style.
  • Beryllium was in brakes for military airplanes because of its hardness, high melting point, and exceptional ability to dissipate heat.

Ceramic industry

  • Ceramics, produced from high-purity beryllium oxide powder (99.5%), are used in laser and electronic applications and for high-speed integrated circuits.
  • Beryllium mirrors are used in optical guidance systems and fire-control systems.
  • In hard electroless nickel plating applicable to cryogenic operation.
  • Gold-plated beryllium mirror is used in the James Webb Space Telescope which has 18 hexagonal beryllium thin plates.
  • Beryllium is used to make the optics of the Spitzer Space Telescope because it contracts and deforms less than glass.

Magnetic industry

  • Beryllium is used for the preparation of magnetic fuzes in naval mines.
  • Be also found in maintenance and construction materials near magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines because of the high magnetic fields generated.
  • Tune the highly magnetic klystrons, magnetrons, traveling wave tubes, etc., that are used for generating high levels of microwave power in the transmitters.

Nuclear Industry

  • Commonly used in some neutron sources in particle accelerator-powered powered neutron generators.
  • Beryllium is also used in fuel fabrication for CANDU reactors.
  • Thin plates or foils of beryllium are sometimes used in the very outer layer of the plutonium pits in the primary stages of the thermonuclear reactor, placed to surround the fissile material.
  • Beryllium is also used at the Joint European Torus nuclear-fusion research laboratory for advance research of plasma.
  • Neutron sources in which beryllium is bombarded with gamma rays from a gamma decay radioisotope, are also used to produce laboratory neutrons.
  • Beryllium has also been proposed as a cladding material for nuclear fuel rods, because of its good combination of mechanical, chemical, and nuclear properties.

Electronics Industry

  • As p-type dopant in III-V compound semiconductors.
  • Be is widely used in materials such as GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, and InAlAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).
  • Cross-rolled beryllium sheet is used as an excellent structural support for printed circuit boards in surface-mount technology.
  • Structural support and heat sink in critical electronic applications.
  • The making of “E-Materials” which are specially designed for these electronic applications.

Acoustics

  • The low weight and high rigidity of beryllium make it useful as a material for high-frequency speaker drivers.
  • Beryllium tweeters are limited to high-end home pro audio, and public address applications.
  • Some high-end phonograph cartridges used beryllium cantilevers to improve tracking by reducing mass.
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Uses of Beryllium in Different Industries

Beryllium copper uses

Beryllium copper is an alloy containing 0.5-3% of beryllium having high strength and nonmagnetic properties. Let us see some industrial uses of this alloy.

The industrial uses of this alloy are listed below –

  • Electrical Industry
  • Magnetic Industry
  • Mechanical Industry
  • Instrumental Industry
  • Electronic Industry

Beryllium copper is a ductile, weldable, and machinable alloy. It is resistant to non-oxidizing acids and can be heat-treated for increased strength, durability, and electrical conductivity. Let us see the uses of this alloy in the next part of the particle.

Electrical Industry

  • In low-current contacts for batteries and electrical connectors, BeCu is used for its high electrical conductivity.
  • Beryllium copper is a non-ferrous alloy used in springs, spring wire, load cells, and other parts that must retain their shape under repeated stress and strain.

Magnetic Industry

  • Beryllium copper is non-sparking but physically tough and nonmagnetic, fulfilling the requirements of ATEX directive for Zones 0, 1, and 2.

Mechanical Industry

  • Beryllium copper is used in the making of screwdrivers, pliers, wrenches, cold chisels, and hammers which are environmentally friendly, such as oil rigs, coal mines, and grain elevators.
  • Armor-piercing bullets made from BeCu alloys are much less expensive and have similar properties.
  • Measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools in the directional drilling industry is made by BeCu ally because of their non-magnetic property.
  • Molds for manufacturing plastic containers made of beryllium copper alloy.
  • High tensile wire is formed by BeCu alloy which is used for different shapes.
  • Beryllium copper valve seats are used in high-performance four-stroke engines which gives extra life to the engines.

Instrumental Industry

  • Some percussion instruments, especially tambourines and triangles, because of beryllium copper’s consistent tone and resonance.

Electronic Industry

  • Beryllium Copper is used for servicing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines instead of ferrous tools.

Beryllium oxide uses

Beryllium oxide is an inorganic basic oxide having thermal insulator properties. Let us see the uses of BeO in the next part.

The uses of BeO are listed below –

  • Crystallography
  • Ceramic Industry
  • Electronic industry

As an amorphous solid, beryllium oxide is white. Its high melting point leads to its use as a refractory material. It occurs in nature as the mineral bromellite. Let us see the uses of beryllium oxide in different fields.

Crystallography

  • BeO produced high-quality crystal which is hydrothermally in nature.
  • BeO is used for the production of impure and colorless host crystals which are used in nanotechnology.

Ceramic Industry

  • Sintered beryllium oxide produced very stable ceramic.
  • Beryllium oxide is used in rocket engines and as a transparent protective over-coating on aluminized telescope mirrors.
  • As a structural ceramic for high-performance microwave devices, vacuum tubes, magnetrons, and gas lasers.

Electronic industry

  • In many high-performance semiconductor parts for applications such as radio equipment because it has good thermal conductivity while also being a good electrical insulator.
  • As a filler in some thermal interface materials such as thermal grease.
  • Beryllium oxide ceramic is used in some power semiconductor devices between the silicon chip and the metal mounting base of the package to achieve a lower value of thermal resistance.
  • As a neutron moderator for naval marine high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (MGCR), as well as NASA’s Kilopower nuclear reactor for space applications.
  • Beryllium oxide is frequently used as an insulator base plate in high-power transistors in radio frequency transmitters for telecommunications.

Beryllium chloride uses

Beryllium chloride is an inorganic hygroscopic compound having a molar mass of 79.9182g/mol. Let us discuss some uses of BeCl2.

The uses of BeCl2 are listed below –

  • BeCl2 is used as raw material for the electrolysis of beryllium metal.
  • BeCl2 has used aa s catalyst in the Friedel-craft reaction.

Two forms (polymorphs) of BeCl2 are known. Both structures consist of tetrahedral Be2+ centers interconnected by doubly bridging chloride ligands. One form consists of edge-sharing polytetrahedra. The other form resembles zinc iodide with interconnected adamantane-like cages.

Beryllium sulfide uses

Beryllium sulfide is a white solid that is decomposed by water and acids. Let us discuss some use of beryllium sulfide.

The use of BeS is very particular and the uses are  –

  • Due to their large energy gap and hardness, beryllium sulfides are used as insulators.
  • BeS is used for improving the lifetime of optical devices of semiconductors made from CdS and ZnS.

Beryllium sulfide powders can be prepared by the reaction of sulfur and beryllium in a hydrogen atmosphere by heating the mixture for 10-20 minutes at temperatures from 1000-1300 °C. Sometimes at 900 °C, if there metal impurities are present.

Beryllium fluoride uses

Beryllium fluoride is a white crystal with having quartz-like structure. Let us discuss the uses of beryllium fluoride in different industries.

The uses of beryllium fluoride are listed below –

  • In refining Beryllium and manufacturing Beryllium alloys, and as a chemical reagent.
  • Beryllium fluoride is used in biochemistry, particularly protein crystallography as a mimic of phosphate.
  • As a basic constituent of the preferred fluoride salt mixture used in liquid-fluoride nuclear reactors.
  • Beryllium fluoride is one of the constituent salts of the eutectic salt mixture FLiBe.
  • Used as a solvent, moderator, and coolant in many hypothetical molten salt reactor designs, including the liquid fluoride thorium reactor (LFTR).

Beryllium fluoride has distinctive optical properties. In the form of fluoroberyllate glass, it has the lowest refractive index for a solid at room temperature of 1.275. Its dispersive power is the lowest for a solid at 0.0093, and the nonlinear coefficient is also the lowest at 2 × 10−14.

Conclusion

Beryllium is a strong alkaline earth metal that has a variety of uses in n different industries. It can form a strong basic base or hydroxide by reacting with water. Beryllium compounds were used in fluorescent lighting tubes.