Russia produced the first own sample of beryllium

Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) together with Siberian Chemical Combine OJSC (SCC, an enterprise of the fuel company TVEL of the Rosatom State Corporation) received the first Russian sample of the strategically important beryllium metal, RIA Novosti reports.

At the moment, the full production cycle for the extraction and manufacture of products from beryllium has only three enterprises in the world. They are located in the USA, China, and, more recently, production was opened at JSC Ulba Metallurgical Plant, which is part of the National Atomic Company of Kazakhstan (KazAtomProm).
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Beryllium is a strategic and expensive material, its consumption worldwide is only about 400-440 tons per year, half of which is in the United States. Steel, titanium and graphite compounds are actively used to replace this material.

According to the press service of the SCC, a sample of beryllium produced at the plant was presented at the end of 2014. The possibility of producing this metal in the future is being discussed.

The development of production technology of beryllium at the expense of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation is carried out by TPU. The vice-rector of the university for research and innovation, Alexander Dyachenko, explained that the first laboratory batch of this metal was 100 grams. “We received the first ingot, this is the first Russian beryllium. This year we will work out the technology, reduce the cost of it, ”he explained.

The main areas of use of beryllium:

• Alloying of alloys. The addition of a small fraction of beryllium can significantly improve the physical and mechanical properties of the material. It is actively used in the manufacture of springs with a large cycle of compressions (watch and armory), as well as during the operation of springs under extreme conditions (the alloy does not lose its compressive properties even with red heat).
  
• X-ray technology. Low absorption of X-rays makes beryllium an excellent material for making windows of X-ray tubes.
  
• Nuclear energy. Used as a reflector and neutron moderator. Beryllium oxide is an excellent conductor of heat, and in a mixture with uranium oxide is used in the production of highly efficient nuclear fuel. Beryllium fluoride in an alloy with lithium fluoride is used as a heat carrier and solvent of uranium, plutonium, and thorium salts in high-temperature liquid-salt atomic reactors.
  
• Laser technology. Beryllium aluminate is used in the manufacture of solid-state emitters.
  
• Aviation and space. Due to the diagonal similarity with aluminum, beryllium is excellent for the aerospace industry. Alloys based on it can be up to one and a half times lighter and at the same time stronger than many other special steels and alloys. Some sources in the aviation industry claim that there are more than a thousand beryllium bronze parts in a modern heavy aircraft.
  

Some properties of beryllium:

• The density of beryllium: 1,848 g / cm³ (aluminum - 2.6989 g / cm³, steel - 7.701-7.9 g / cm³, uranium - 19.05 g / cm³).
• One of the hardest metals in its pure form (second only to osmium, tungsten and uranium), but at the same time fragile.
• It has a high modulus of elasticity - 300 GPa (for steels 200 - 210 GPa).
• 2-3 times better than other metals, it propagates sound waves.
• Beryllium bronze is not subject to metal fatigue, over time, the alloy only becomes stronger.
• Volatile and soluble beryllium compounds are poisonous, including dust.
• Considered one of the best refractory materials.

The main player in the beryllium market is considered to be the United States, which gained control over most of the deposits then used in aircraft technology, even during World War II. The United States also has significant reserves of this metal on its territory, the state of Utah. According to some reports, the reserves of the most popular BeO oxide are about 1,400 thousand tons, and the global stock of beryllium is 80,000 thousand tons.

Currently, the beryllium market is growing due to its use in applied areas - in the production of telecommunications equipment, computer and automotive equipment, as well as due to the rapid growth of the Asian market.

In the coming years, TPU scientists are planning to work on raw materials from the Federal Reserve, but expect to start extracting raw materials from the Ermakovskoye field in Buryatia. According to Dyachenko, industrial production of beryllium may begin in 2020.