Metal has been used by people since ancient times. The most accessible and workable metal in nature is copper. Copper products in the form of household utensils are found by archaeologists during excavations of ancient settlements. As technological progress grew, man learned to make alloys from various metals, which were useful to him in the manufacture of household items and weapons. And so the most strong metal in the world.
Titanium
This unusually beautiful silver-white metal was discovered almost simultaneously at the end of the 18th century by two scientists - the Englishman W. Gregory and the German M. Klaproth. According to one version, titanium got its name in honor of the characters of ancient Greek myths, the mighty Titans, according to another - from Titania, the fairy queen from Germanic mythology - because of its lightness. However, at that time they did not find a use for it.
Then in 1925, physicists in Holland were able to isolate pure titanium and discovered its many benefits. These are high rates of manufacturability, specific strength and resistance to corrosion, very high strength at high temperatures. It also has high anti-corrosion resistance. These fantastic figures immediately attracted engineers and designers.
In 1940, the scientist Krol obtained pure titanium using the magnesium-thermal method, and since then this method has been the main one. The strongest metal on earth is mined in many places in the world - Russia, Ukraine, China, South Africa and others.
Titanium is two times stronger than iron in terms of mechanical parameters, six times stronger than aluminum. Titanium alloys are this moment the most durable in the world, and therefore have found application in the military (design of submarines, missiles), shipbuilding and aviation industries (on supersonic aircraft).
This metal is also incredibly ductile, so any shape can be made from it - sheets, pipes, wire, tape. Titanium is widely used for the manufacture of medical prostheses (at the same time, it is biologically ideally compatible with the tissues of the human body), jewelry, sports equipment, etc.
It is also used in chemical production due to its anti-corrosion properties, this metal does not corrode in an aggressive environment. So, for testing purposes, a titanium plate was placed in sea water, and in 10 years it did not even rust!
Due to its high electrical resistance and non-magnetizing properties, it is widely used in radio electronics, for example, in structural parts. mobile phones. The use of titanium in the field of dentistry is very promising, its ability to fuse with human bone tissue is especially important, which gives strength and solidity during prosthetics. It is widely used in the manufacture of medical instruments.
Uranus
The natural oxidizing properties of uranium have been used since antiquity (1st century BC) in the manufacture of yellow glazes in pottery. One of the most well-known durable metals in world practice, it is weakly radioactive and is used in the production of nuclear fuel. The 20th century was even called the “age of Uranus”. This metal has paramagnetic properties.
Uranium is 2.5 times heavier than iron, forms many chemical compounds, and its alloys with elements such as tin, lead, aluminum, mercury, and iron are used in production.
Tungsten
This is not only the strongest metal in the world, but also very rare, which is not even mined anywhere, but was obtained chemically back in 1781 in Sweden. The most temperature resistant metal in the world. Due to its high refractoriness, it lends itself well to forging, while it is pulled into a thin thread.
Its most famous use is as a tungsten filament in light bulbs. It is widely used for the production of special tools (incisors, cutters, surgical) and in jewelry production. Due to its property not to transmit radioactive rays, it is used to produce containers for storing nuclear waste. Tungsten deposits in Russia are located in Altai, Chukotka, and the North Caucasus.
Rhenium
It got its name in Germany (Rhine River), where it was discovered in 1925, the metal itself has a white color. It is mined both in its pure form (Kuril Islands), and in the extraction of molybdenum and copper raw materials, but in very small quantities.
The strongest metal on earth is very hard and dense, it melts perfectly. The strength is high and does not depend on temperature changes, the disadvantage is the high cost, poisonous to humans. Used in electronics and aviation industry.
Osmium
The heaviest element, for example, a kilogram of osmium looks like a ball that fits easily in the hand. It belongs to the platinum group of metals, at a price several times higher than gold. The name got its name because of the bad smell during a chemical reaction, which was carried out by the English scientist S. Tennant in 1803.
Outwardly, it looks very beautiful: shiny silver crystals with a blue and blue tint. It is usually used as an additive to other metals in industry (metal-ceramic cutters of increased strength, blades of medical knives). Its non-magnetic and durable properties are used in the manufacture of high-precision instruments.
Beryllium
It was obtained by the chemist Paul Lebo at the end of the 19th century. At first, this metal was nicknamed "sweet", because of its candy taste. Then it turned out that he has other attractive and original properties, for example, he does not want to enter into any chemical reactions with other elements with rare exceptions (halogen).
The strongest metal in the world is both hard, brittle, and light, and highly toxic at the same time. Its exceptional strength (for example, a wire with a diameter of 1 mm can withstand the weight of a person) is used in laser and space technology, and nuclear energy.
New discoveries
We can go on talking about very strong metals, but technical progress is moving forward. Scientists from California recently announced to the world the emergence of a "liquid metal" (from the word "liquid"), superior in strength to titanium. In addition, it turned out to be super-light, flexible and high-strength. Therefore, scientists have to create and develop ways to use a new metal, and in the future, perhaps, make many more discoveries.
From childhood, we know that the most durable metal- it's steel. Everything iron is associated with it.
Iron man, iron lady, steel character. By saying these phrases, we mean incredible strength, strength, hardness.
For a long time, steel was the main material in production and weapons. But steel is not metal. To be more precise, it is not a completely pure metal. This is with carbon, in which other metal additives are also present. By applying additives, i.e. change its properties. After that, it is processed. Steelmaking is a whole science.
The strongest metal is obtained by introducing the appropriate alloys into the steel. It can be chromium, which also gives heat resistance, nickel, which makes steel hard and elastic, etc.
In some positions, steel began to displace aluminum. Time passed, the speed increased. Aluminum didn't hold up either. I had to turn to the titan.
Yes, titanium is the strongest metal. To give steel high strength characteristics, titanium was added to it.
It was opened in the XVIII century. Due to its fragility, it was impossible to use it. Over time, having received pure titanium, engineers and designers became interested in its high specific strength, low density, resistance to corrosion and high temperatures. Its physical strength exceeds the strength of iron by several times.
Engineers began adding titanium to steel. The result was the most durable metal, which has found application in an environment of ultrahigh temperatures. At that time, no other alloy could withstand them.
If you imagine an airplane that flies three times faster than you can imagine, how the sheathing metal heats up. The sheet metal of the aircraft skin in such conditions is heated up to +3000C.
Today, titanium is used unlimitedly in all areas of production. These are medicine, aircraft building, ship production.
With all the obviousness, we can say that in the near future, the titan will have to move.
Scientists from the USA, in the laboratories of the University of Texas at Austin, discovered the thinnest and most durable material on Earth. They called it graphene.
Imagine a plate whose thickness is equal to the thickness of one atom. But such a plate is stronger than diamond and conducts electricity a hundred times better than silicon computer chips.
Graphene is a material with amazing properties. It will soon leave the laboratories and rightfully take its place among the most durable materials in the universe.
It is even impossible to imagine that a few grams of graphene would be enough to cover a football field. Here is the metal. Pipes made of such material can be laid manually without the use of lifting and transport mechanisms.
Graphene, like diamond, is the purest carbon. His flexibility is amazing. Such material is easily bent, folds perfectly and rolls up perfectly.
Touch screen manufacturers have already begun to look at it, solar panels, cell phones and, finally, super-fast computer chips.
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Metals accompany humanity almost all of its conscious life. It began, of course, with copper, as it is the most malleable material and available in nature.
Evolution has helped people to develop significantly in technical terms and over time they began to invent alloys that became stronger and stronger. In our time, experiments continue, and every year new strong alloys appear. Let's consider the best of them.
Titanium
Titanium is a high-strength material that is widely used in many industries. The most common area of application is aviation. All the fault of a successful combination of low weight and high strength. Also, the properties of titanium are high specific strength, resistance to physical influences, temperatures and corrosion.
Uranus
One of the most durable elements. AT natural conditions it is a weak radioactive metal. It can occur in the free state, is very heavy, and is widely distributed throughout the world due to its paramagnetic properties. Uranium is flexible, has high forging malleability and relative ductility.
Tungsten
The most refractory metal known today. Has a silver-gray color is the so-called transition element. The properties of tungsten make it resistant to chemical attack and malleable. The most well-known area of application is used in incandescent lamps.
Rhenium
Silvery white metal. In nature, it can be found in its pure form, but there is also molybdenum raw material, in which it is also found. A distinctive feature of rhenium is refractoriness. It belongs to expensive metals, so its cost also goes off scale. The main area of application is electronics.
Osmium
Osmium is a silvery-white metal that has a slight blue tint. It belongs to the platinum group and has an unusually great similarity with iridium in such properties as refractoriness, hardness and brittleness.
Beryllium
This metal is an element with a light gray hue and high toxicity. Having such unusual properties, the material has found wide application in the field of nuclear energy and laser technology. The high strength of beryllium allows it to be used in the manufacture of alloying alloys.
Chromium
The bluish-white shade makes chrome stand out from the list. It is resistant to alkalis and acids. In nature, it can be found in its pure form. Chromium is often used to create various alloys that are further used in the field of medicine and chemical equipment.
Ferrochrome is an alloy of chromium and iron. It is used in the manufacture of metal cutting tools.
Tantalum
It is a silvery metal with high hardness and density. The lead shade on the metal is formed due to the appearance of an oxide film on the surface. The metal is well machined.
To date, tantalum has been successfully used in the construction of nuclear reactors and metallurgical production.
Ruthenium
A silvery metal that belongs to the platinum group. It has an unusual composition: it includes the muscle tissue of living organisms. Another distinctive fact is that ruthenium is used as a catalyst for many chemical reactions.
Iridium
In our ranking, this metal occupies the first line. It has a silvery white color. Iridium also belongs to the platinum group and has the highest hardness of the above metals. In the modern world, it is used very often. Basically, it is added to other metals to improve their resistance to acidic environments. The metal itself is very expensive, as it is very poorly distributed in nature.
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many lovers interesting facts I'm wondering which metal is the hardest? And offhand to answer this question will not be easy. Of course, any chemistry teacher can easily say correctly without even thinking. But among ordinary citizens who last studied chemistry at school, not many will be able to correctly and quickly give an answer. This is due to the fact that everyone has been accustomed to making various toys from wire since childhood and remembered well that copper and aluminum are soft and easy to bend, but steel, on the contrary, is not so easy to give the desired shape. A person deals with the three named metals most often, so he does not even consider the rest of the candidates. But steel is certainly not the hardest metal in the world. In fairness, it should be noted that this is not a metal at all in the chemical sense, but a compound of iron with carbon.
What is titanium?
The hardest metal is titanium. Pure titanium was first obtained in 1925. This discovery made a splash in scientific circles. Industrialists immediately drew attention to the new material and appreciated the benefits of its use. According to the official version, the hardest metal on Earth got its name in honor of the indestructible Titans, who, according to ancient Greek mythology, were the founders of the world.
According to scientists, the total world reserves of titanium today are about 730 million tons. At the current rate of extraction of fossil raw materials, there will be enough for another 150 years. Titanium ranks 10th in terms of natural reserves among all known metals. The world's largest producer of titanium is Russian company VSMPO-Avisma, which satisfies up to 35% of the world's needs. The company is engaged in a full cycle of processing from ore mining to the manufacture of various products. It takes about 90% Russian market for the production of titanium. About 70% finished products goes for export.
Titan - light metal silvery in color with a melting point of 1670 degrees Celsius. It exhibits high chemical activity only when heated; under normal conditions, it does not react with most chemical elements and compounds. It does not occur in nature in its pure form. It is common in the form of rutile (titanium dioxide) and ilmenite (a complex substance consisting of titanium dioxide and ferrous oxide) ores. Pure titanium is recovered by sintering the ore with chlorine and then displacing the more active metal (most commonly magnesium) from the resulting tetrachloride.
Industrial applications of titanium
The hardest metal has a fairly wide range of applications in many industries. Amorphously arranged atoms provide titanium with the highest level of tensile and torsion strength, good impact resistance, and high magnetic qualities. The metal is used to make air transport hulls and missiles. It copes well with the enormous loads that machines experience at great heights. Titanium is also used in the manufacture of hulls for submarines, as it is able to withstand high pressure at great depths.
In the medical industry, metal is used in the manufacture of prostheses and dental implants, as well as surgical instruments. As an alloying element, the element is added to some steel grades, which gives them increased strength and corrosion resistance. Titanium is well suited for casting, as it allows you to get perfectly smooth surfaces. It is also made from Jewelry and decorative items. Titanium compounds are also actively used. Paints, white are made from dioxide, they are added to the composition of paper and plastic.
Complex organic titanium salts are used as a hardening catalyst in paint and varnish production. Titanium carbide is used to make various tools and attachments for processing and drilling other metals. In precision engineering, titanium aluminide is used to produce wear-resistant elements that have a high margin of safety.
Most hard alloy metal was obtained by American scientists in 2011. It consists of palladium, silicon, phosphorus, germanium and silver. new material called "metal glass". He combined the hardness of glass and the plasticity of metal. The latter does not allow cracks to propagate, as happens with standard glass. Naturally, the material was not put into wide production, since its components, especially palladium, are rare metals and are very expensive.
At the moment, the efforts of scientists are aimed at finding alternative components that would preserve the obtained properties, but significantly reduce the cost of production. However, individual parts for the aerospace industry are already being produced from the resulting alloy. If alternative elements can be introduced into the structure and the material becomes widespread, then it is quite possible that it will become one of the most demanded alloys of the future.
Most of the elements of the periodic table refers to metals. They differ in physical and chemical characteristics, but have common properties: high electrical and thermal conductivity, plasticity, positive temperature. Most metals are solid under normal conditions, there is one single exception to this rule - mercury. Chromium is considered the hardest metal.
In 1766, at one of the mines near Yekaterinburg, a previously unknown mineral of saturated red color was discovered. He was given the name "Siberian red lead". The modern name for this is "crocoite", its PbCrO4. The new mineral attracted the attention of scientists. In 1797, the French chemist Vauquelin, conducting experiments with him, isolated a new metal, later called chromium.
Chromium compounds have a bright color of various colors. For this, he got his name, because in Greek "chromium" means "paint".
In its pure form, it is a bluish-silver metal. It is the most important component of alloyed (stainless) steels, giving them corrosion resistance and hardness. Chromium is widely used in electroplating, for applying a beautiful and wear-resistant protective coating, as well as in leather processing. Base alloys are used to make rocket parts, heat-resistant nozzles, etc. Most sources state that chromium is the hardest metal of all that exists on. The hardness of chromium (depending on the experimental conditions) reaches 700-800 units on the Brinell scale.
Chromium, although considered the hardest metal on earth, is only slightly inferior in hardness to tungsten and uranium.
How is chromium obtained in industry
Chromium is part of many minerals. The richest deposits of chrome ores are located in South Africa (Republic of South Africa). There are many chrome ores in Kazakhstan, Russia, Zimbabwe, Turkey and some other countries. Chromium iron ore Fe (CrO2) 2 is the most widespread. From this mineral, chromium is obtained by roasting in electric furnaces over a layer of coke. The reaction proceeds along following formula: Fe (CrO2) 2 + 4C = 2Cr + Fe + 4CO.
The hardest metal from chromium iron ore can be obtained in another way. To do this, the mineral is first fused with soda ash, resulting in the formation of sodium chromate Na2CrO4. Then, after acidifying the solution, chromium is converted into dichromate (Na2Cr2O7). From sodium bichromate, by calcination with coal, basic chromium oxide Cr2O3 is obtained. On the final stage, after the interaction of this oxide with aluminum at high temperature, pure chromium is formed.