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Tantalum
Tantalum information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.

Tantalum has a number of interesting properties that make it particularly useful in electronic applications. Tantalum is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. It has the third highest melting point, surpassed only by rhenium and tungsten, yet it is highly conductive to heat and electricity. This has made it the material of choice for electronic capacitors for most telecommunications and hand held electronics equipment, such as cell phones, laptop computers and pagers. Tantalum compounds, such as the oxide and chloride, are the basis for di-electric coatings. Tantalum is added to glass for its high refractive index. It has various applications in nuclear energy.

Tantalum facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

 

  Hydrogen                                 Helium
  Lithium Beryllium                     Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
  Sodium Magnesium                     Aluminum Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
  Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Hydrogen Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
  Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Silver Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
  Cesium Barium Cerium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
                                     
      Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium    
      Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawerencium    


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available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Tantalum is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Tantalum is a Block D, Group 5, Period 6 element. The electronic configuration is [Xe] 4f14 5d3 6s2. In its elemental form tantalum's CAS number is 7440-25-7. The tantalum atom has a radius of 143.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 200.pm.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Tantalum compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Tantalum was first discovered by Anders Ekeberg in 1802.

French tantale German Tantal Italian tantalio Portuguese Tântalo Spanish tántalo Swedish Tantal

Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of tantalum and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.

Isotope
Atomic Mass
% Abundance on Earth
Ta-180
179.947466
0.01
Ta-181
180.947996
99.99

Safety Data. The safety data for tantalum metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for tantalum (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:

1st Ionization Energy
728.43 kJ mol-1
2nd Ionization Energy
- kJ mol-1
3rd Ionization Energy
- kJ mol-1

Conductivity. As to tantalum's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 13.15 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.5. The thermal conductivity of tantalum is 57.5 W m-1 K-1.

Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for tantalum are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.

Heat of Fusion
31.4 kJ mol-1
Heat of Vaporization
758.22 kJ mol-1
Heat of Atomization
781.425 kJ mol-1

 
Formula Atomic Number Molecular Weight Electronegativity (Pauling) Density Melting Point
Boiling Point
Vanderwaals radius
Ionic radius Energy of first ionization
Ta 73 180.95 g.mol -1 1.5 16.69 g.cm-3 at 20 °C 2850 °C 6000 °C 200.pm 0.070 nm (+5) 728.43 kJ.mol-1

PRODUCT CATALOG UK Operations Submicron & Nanopowder Tolling Ultra High Purity Sputtering Target Crystal Growth Rod, Plate, Powder, etc. Foil
 
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Recent Research & Development for Tantalum

  • One-step sol-gel preparation and enhanced photocatalytic activity of porous polyoxometalate-tantalum pentoxide nanocomposites.
    J Colloid Interface Sci. 2007 Jan 19; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Properties of Two Modifications of MgB(12)C(2).
    Chemistry. 2007 Jan 19; [Epub ahead of print]

  • Formation of Dense Self-assembled Monolayers of (n-Decyl)trichlorosilanes on Ta/Ta(2)O(5).
    Langmuir. 2007 Jan 16;23(2):443-451.

  • Well-Defined Surface Imido Amido Tantalum(V) Species from Ammonia and Silica-Supported Tantalum Hydrides.
    J Am Chem Soc. 2007 Jan 10;129(1):176-186.

  • Porous tantalum implant in early osteonecrosis of the hip preliminary report on operative, survival, and outcomes results.
    J Arthroplasty. 2007 Jan;22(1):26-31.

  • Synthesis of fullerene-like tantalum disulfide nanoparticles by a gas-phase reaction and laser ablation.
    Small. 2005 Nov;1(11):1100-9.

  • High-oxidation-state neutral and cationic tantalum(IV) alkyl complexes that are stable toward beta-hydrogen and beta-methyl eliminations.
    J Am Chem Soc. 2006 Dec 20;128(50):16052-3. No abstract available.

  • Formation of highly ordered arrays of dimples on tantalum at the nanoscale.
    Nano Lett. 2006 Dec;6(12):2995-9.

  • Enhancement of protein adsorption induced by surface roughness.
    Langmuir. 2006 Dec 19;22(26):10885-8.

  • Bone nanostructure near titanium and porous tantalum implants studied by scanning small angle x-ray scattering.
    Eur Cell Mater. 2006 Nov 30;12:81-91.

 

 

 

 

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