We Have Taken the "Rare" out of "Rare Earths" You Now Have a Wide Choice of Readily Available Materials a report by LIXDSAY
W e were thinking the other day of the progress w e have made in taking the "rare" out of "rare earths." Even the "earth" in rare earth is not completely descriptive, either. Actually, the nam* rare earths does fit these elements into the periodic sys tem, for they are earthy when in the form of oxides. In this respect, they re semble the "earth" elements, aluminum being a good example. The "rare" came from t h e fact that those wonderful chemists of the last century thought that they were indeed rare, since the only supplies available were derived from quite rare and exotic minerals found then in a very few pegmatitic deposits in Norway. Now, of course, you can buy rare earths in almost any size, shape and form. You can order in grams, ounces, pounds, and in many cases in carloads! These elements have been described by other names such as "lanthanides" and "lanthanons." Technically, these are the elements lanthanum, atomic number 57, and the next fourteen ele ments in the periodic system.Thus, rare earths include all the elements from atomic number 57 to 71 (lanthanum to lutetium ) . Due to some remarkable similaritie in properties, the rare earths tend to occur together in nature. These same properties make it difficult to separate them in some cases. From the stand point of availability of commercial materials, there are several choices. Rare Earth Materials. The ore mineral c o m m o n l y u s e d as a source of rare earths is monazite. Rare earths ex tracted without any appreciable sepa ration are marketed commercially as
THE ATOMIC .NUMBER
39 57 58 59 60 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 90
RARE
High Purity Materials. Lindsay pio neered the first commercially installed ion exchange plant for the production of individually separated rare earths in purities up to 99.99%. These high pur ity materials are now readily available at prices which were unheard of only a few years ago.
EARTHS
ELEMENT Yttrium
1
Lanthanum
1
Praseodymium
1
Europium
Many applications. W e have made re markable progress . . . through the de velopment of improved techniques for the separation of the rare earths, and expansion of production facilities . . . in taking the "rare" out of "rare earths." Needless to say we were compelled by considerable urgency to satisfy the rapid growth in demand by industry for many new uses. • · · W e have prepared a revised edition of our technical data describing our rare earth, yttrium and thorium materials. Your request for the "Lindsay Binder" will bring you this collection of data promptly. If you have a specific idea or use in mind, let us know and our tech nical people will try to supply perti nent data.
j
Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium
"rare earth" salts or materials. They contain these elements in about the same*ratios as in the ore: roughly onehalf cerium, one-quarter lanthanum, one-fifth neodymium, about five per cent praseodymium, and smaller amounts of the other rare earths. Be ing close to the starting material, "rare earth" salts are the most economical. Cerium. Cerium is the most important single rare earth, relatively easy to sep arate and available in a rather complete range trom commercial to high purity grades. Didymium. Taking cerium out of the rare earth mixture leaves a collection of rare earths we call "didymium." Didy mium materials, like cerium, are close to the starting ore, so costs aren't ex cessive.
We show you this photo of bulk handling of rare earth intermediates at our West Chicago plant to suggest that rare earth materials are produced in large tonnages. They are avail able for prompt shipment, some of them in carload tjuantities. Prices, incidentally, are surprisingly low.
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