Tantalum is the element sits between hafnium,
niobium and tungsten in the transition metal section of the periodic table. It
is discovered in 19th century, named after Tantalus, a figure from
Greek mythology. It has atomic number 73, atomic weight 180.94, atomic symbol
‘Ta’ and it is a high density metal.
Tantalum is increasingly becoming important in the 21st century, as
it plays a crucial role in making electronic devices smaller. It naturally
fights corrosion.
Tantalum is rarely found in its elemental form. It
is one of the high density metals,
found with niobium and other radioactive elements uranium and thorium. Several
industrial processes are required to extract pure
tantalum. Australia and South America account for over two-third of the world’s
tantalum production. A single mine in Brazil accounts for 20% of the total
annual supply. Due to the increase in the use of tantalum in electronics
devices, the cost of capacitor grade tantalum has also
increased over the past decade.
This element remains very stable at temperature lower
than 150 degree Celsius. It has a natural protective layer created by tantalum oxides to protect it from corrosion.
Due to the corrosion resistant property it is highly used in making of bridges
and water tanks. Tantalum capacitors have very high capacitance packed in a
small volume which makes it perfect for reducing the size of the electronic
devices. It is found in DVD players, cell phones, hard drives, laptops and PS3.
Tantalum is used in making devices used in
television, cell phones and surface acoustic wave filters. The average cell
phone has about 40 milligrams of tantalum inside it. Its capacitors has very
low failure rate making them accurate for manufacturing of medical
equipment. It is also used in making
knee, hip and other orthopedic implants.
