What is the role of molybdenum in steel?
Molybdenum is one of seven micronutrients needed for plant growth and development, without which plants cannot survive. Animals and fish also need molybdenum, as do plants.
The main consumption area of molybdenum is the iron and steel industry. In industrialized countries, more than 80% of molybdenum is used as an additive element of steel, and only about 20% of molybdenum is used in the production of molybdenum, super alloy and special alloy, chemical products, etc., which is consumed in the petrochemical industry, light industry, electronics and some high-tech fields.
Molybdenum and molybdenum alloy rod (strip), molybdenum wire, molybdenum plate, molybdenum strip, TZM, molybdenum foil and shaped products are widely used in metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, electronics, lighting and some high-tech fields. Such as lighting filament bracket, mandrel wire, reflection screen; Anode, grid, auxiliary electrode, gasket for electronic industry; Containers, boats and heaters for vacuum electroplating and sputtering; Heating element, electrode and heat insulation screen for high temperature furnace; Surface treatment for surfacing, spraying; Thermocouple and protective sleeve for temperature measurement; UO 2 refining used to burn boats, etc.
In recent 10 years, the application of molybdenum has been further expanded. For example, the thermal spraying with molybdenum powder or molybdenum wire has greatly improved the service life of piston rings and gear parts on automobiles. Molybdenum can be used to replace platinum crucible and electrode in glass and refractory fiber material industry, and great results have been achieved. The appearance of high temperature molybdenum makes the application range of molybdenum in halogen mercury lamp and vacuum furnace more and more.
In the die casting industry, molybdenum and its alloys can be used as die casting materials for nonferrous and ferrous metals. Heat-resistant molybdenum based ceramic tube is suitable for continuous measurement of tube and hot extrusion die of oxygen top blow converter in steelmaking process. Molybdenum alloy top is widely used in seamless steel pipe and stainless steel pipe, significantly improve productivity and product quality, reduce costs. The alloy formed by molybdenum and tungsten has excellent corrosion resistance (zinc liquid and zinc vapor). Mo-30W alloy has been widely used to make vertical shaft and temperature measuring sleeve, which greatly reduces downtime for maintenance and improves working conditions. The oxidation resistance of MoSi 2 is particularly good. It can be used as a heating element in the atmosphere at temperatures up to 1700℃. It can also be used as a crucible for rare earth smelting and some single crystal drawing, instead of precious platinum crucible. The application of molybdenum in chemical industry is more and more eye-catching, especially the rapid development of molybdenum compounds in chemical industry. In recent years, although molybdenum is in depression, the application of molybdenum compounds is still growing and developing towards multipolarization. Molybdenum and molybdenum alloy have a high degree of stability in many reaction media, it is widely used in chemical industry, petroleum refining and glass and other light industry corrosion resistant materials, such as chemical equipment lining, parts, valves, steam pipes, heat exchangers, reboiler and so on. At present, molybdenum and molybdenum alloys have been used in the preparation of acids, bases, salts, molten glass, and certain components of various equipment working in gaseous media. Such as hot concentrated sulfuric acid system in the large valve, heat exchanger, etc. Molybdenum and molybdenum alloys are also said to be available for devices that achieve chlorination at 320℃ and higher pressures. Molybdenum compounds are mainly used in the following aspects: Catalysts and catalytic activators, lubricants and lubricating additives, pigments, dyes, paints and inks, water quality and medium ring corrosion agents, composite ion exchangers, batteries, flame retardants, smoke extinguishing agents and getter, trace element additives, molybdenum composite fertilizers, superconducting materials, ceramic materials, polymer materials filler, energy storage materials, gasoline additives, glass materials, etc. It is predicted that in the next 10 years, the new application and development of molybdenum may be mainly manifested in the fine chemical industry, which is likely to lead to a breakthrough increase in molybdenum consumption.
