Beryllium is the
chemical elementA chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
with the symbol
Be and
atomic numberIn chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...
4. It is a
divalentIn chemistry, a divalent ion or molecule has a valence of two and thus can form two bonds with other ions or molecules. An older term for divalent is bivalent....
element which occurs naturally only in combination with other elements in
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s. Notable gemstones which contain beryllium include
berylThe mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size. Terminated crystals are relatively rare...
(aquamarine,
emeraldEmerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
) and
chrysoberylThe mineral or gemstone chrysoberyl is an aluminate of beryllium with the formula BeAl2O4. The name chrysoberyl is derived from the Greek words χρυσός chrysos and βήρυλλος beryllos, meaning "a gold-white spar". Despite the similarity of their names, chrysoberyl and beryl are two completely...
. As a free element it is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle
alkaline earth metalThe alkaline earth metals are a group in the periodic table. In the modern IUPAC nomenclature, the alkaline earth metals are called the group 2 elements. Previously, they were called the Group IIA elements . The alkaline earth metals contain beryllium , magnesium , calcium , strontium , barium and...
.
Beryllium is used primarily as a hardening agent in
alloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s, notably
beryllium copperBeryllium copper , also known as copper beryllium, beryllium bronze and spring copper, is a copper alloy with 0.5—3% beryllium and sometimes with other alloying elements. Beryllium copper combines high strength with non-magnetic and non-sparking qualities. It has excellent metalworking, forming...
. In structural applications, high
flexural rigidity,
thermal stabilityThermal stability is the stability of a molecule at high temperatures; i.e. a molecule with more stability has more resistance to decomposition at high temperatures....
,
thermal conductivityIn physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
and low
densityThe mass density or density of a material is defined as its mass per unit volume. The symbol most often used for density is ρ . In some cases , density is also defined as its weight per unit volume; although, this quantity is more properly called specific weight...
(1.85 times that of water) make beryllium a quality
aerospaceAerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
material for high-speed
aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
,
missileThough a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s, space vehicles and communication satellites. Because of its low density and
atomic massThe atomic mass is the mass of a specific isotope, most often expressed in unified atomic mass units. The atomic mass is the total mass of protons, neutrons and electrons in a single atom....
, beryllium is relatively transparent to X-rays and other forms of
ionizing radiationIonizing radiation is radiation composed of particles that individually have sufficient energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule. This ionization produces free radicals, which are atoms or molecules containing unpaired electrons...
; therefore, it is the most common window material for X-ray equipment and in
particle physics experimentsParticle physics experiments briefly discusses a number of past, present, and proposed experiments with particle accelerators, throughout the world. In addition, some important accelerator interactions are discussed...
. The high thermal conductivity of beryllium and
beryllium oxideBeryllium oxide , also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO. This colourless solid is a notable electrical insulator with a higher thermal conductivity than any other non-metal except diamond, and actually exceeds that of some metals. As an amorphous solid, beryllium...
have led to their use in
heat transportIn heat transfer, conduction is a mode of transfer of energy within and between bodies of matter, due to a temperature gradient. Conduction means collisional and diffusive transfer of kinetic energy of particles of ponderable matter . Conduction takes place in all forms of ponderable matter, viz....
and
heat sinkA heat sink is a term for a component or assembly that transfers heat generated within a solid material to a fluid medium, such as air or a liquid. Examples of heat sinks are the heat exchangers used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems and the radiator in a car...
ing applications.
The commercial use of beryllium metal presents technical challenges due to the
toxicityToxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...
(especially by inhalation) of beryllium-containing dusts. Beryllium is corrosive to tissue, and can cause a chronic life-threatening allergic disease called
berylliosisBerylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease , is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds. As an occupational lung disease, it is most classically associated with beryllium mining or manufacturing of fluorescent light bulbs...
in some people. Because any Beryllium
synthesizedNucleosynthesis is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons . It is thought that the primordial nucleons themselves were formed from the quark–gluon plasma from the Big Bang as it cooled below two trillion degrees...
in stars is short-lived, it is a relatively rare element in both the Earth and the universe. The element is not known to be necessary or useful for either plant or animal life.
Physical properties
Beryllium has exceptional
flexural rigidity (
Young's modulusYoung's modulus is a measure of the stiffness of an elastic material and is a quantity used to characterize materials. It is defined as the ratio of the uniaxial stress over the uniaxial strain in the range of stress in which Hooke's Law holds. In solid mechanics, the slope of the stress-strain...
287 GPa) and a reasonably high
melting pointThe melting point of a solid is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends on pressure and is usually specified at standard atmospheric pressure...
. The modulus of elasticity of beryllium is approximately 50% greater than that of steel. The combination of this modulus and a relatively low density results in an unusually fast
sound conduction speedThe speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at , the speed of sound is . This is , or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately one mile in five seconds....
in beryllium – about 12.9 km/s at
ambient conditionsStandard condition for temperature and pressure are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements established to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data...
. Other significant properties are high specific heat (1925 J·kg
−1·K
−1) and thermal conductivity (216 W·m
−1·K
−1), which make beryllium the metal with the best heat dissipation characteristics per unit weight. In combination with the relatively low coefficient of linear
thermal expansionThermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in volume in response to a change in temperature.When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving more and thus usually maintain a greater average separation. Materials which contract with increasing temperature are rare; this effect is...
(11.4×10
−6 K
−1), these characteristics result in a unique stability under conditions of thermal loading.
Nuclear properties
Beryllium has a large scattering cross section for high-energy neutrons, about 6
barnA barn is a unit of area. Originally used in nuclear physics for expressing the cross sectional area of nuclei and nuclear reactions, today it is used in all fields of high energy physics to express the cross sections of any scattering process, and is best understood as a measure of the...
s for energies above ~0.01 eV. Therefore, it effectively slows the neutrons to the
thermal energyThe neutron detection temperature, also called the neutron energy, indicates a free neutron's kinetic energy, usually given in electron volts. The term temperature is used, since hot, thermal and cold neutrons are moderated in a medium with a certain temperature. The neutron energy distribution is...
range of below 0.03 eV, where the total cross section is at least an order of magnitude lower – exact value strongly depends on the purity and size of the crystallites in the material. The predominant beryllium isotope
9Be also undergoes a (n,2n) neutron reaction to
8Be, which then instantaneously breaks into two alpha particles; that is, beryllium is a neutron multiplier, releasing more neutrons than it absorbs. This nuclear reaction is:
- + n → 2 + 2n
As a metal, beryllium is
transparentIn the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...
to most wavelengths of
X-rayX-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s and
gamma rayGamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
s, making it useful for the output windows of
X-ray tubeAn X-ray tube is a vacuum tube that produces X-rays. They are used in X-ray machines. X-rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, an ionizing radiation with wavelengths shorter than ultraviolet light...
s and other such apparatus. It is also a good source for the relatively-small numbers of free
neutronThe neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s in the laboratory which are liberated when beryllium
nucleiThe nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...
are struck by energetic
alpha particleAlpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium nucleus, which is classically produced in the process of alpha decay, but may be produced also in other ways and given the same name...
s producing the nuclear reaction
- + → + n , where is an alpha particle and is a carbon-12
Carbon-12 is the more abundant of the two stable isotopes of the element carbon, accounting for 98.89% of carbon; it contains 6 protons, 6 neutrons, and 6 electrons....
nucleus.
Isotopes and nucleosynthesis
Both stable and unstable isotopes of beryllium are created in stars, but these do not last long. It is believed that most of the stable beryllium in the universe was created when cosmic rays induced fission in heavier elements found in interstellar gas and dust.
Beryllium contains only one stable isotope,
9Be, and therefore is a
monoisotopic elementA monoisotopic element is one of 26 chemical elements which have only a single stable isotope . A list is given in a following section....
. Cosmogenic
10Be is produced in the
atmosphere of the EarthThe atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
by the
cosmic ray spallationCosmic ray spallation is a form of naturally occurring nuclear fission and nucleosynthesis. It refers to the formation of elements from the impact of cosmic rays on an object. Cosmic rays are highly energetic charged particles from outside of Earth ranging from protons, alpha particles, and nuclei...
of
oxygenOxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
and
nitrogenNitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
. Cosmogenic
10Be accumulates at the
soilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
surface, where its relatively long
half-lifeHalf-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
(1.36 million years) permits a long
residence timeResidence time is the average amount of time that a particle spends in a particular system. This measurement varies directly with the amount of substance that is present in the system....
before decaying to
boronBoron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
-10. Thus,
10Be and its daughter products are used to examine natural soil erosion, soil formation and the development of
lateritic soilLaterites are soil types rich in iron and aluminium, formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are rusty-red because of iron oxides. They develop by intensive and long-lasting weathering of the underlying parent rock...
s, and as a
proxyIn the study of past climates is known as paleoclimatology, climate proxies are preserved physical characteristics of the past that stand in for direct measurements , to enable scientists to reconstruct the climatic conditions that prevailed during much of the Earth's history...
for measurement of the variations in solar activity and the age of
ice coreAn ice core is a core sample that is typically removed from an ice sheet, most commonly from the polar ice caps of Antarctica, Greenland or from high mountain glaciers elsewhere. As the ice forms from the incremental build up of annual layers of snow, lower layers are older than upper, and an ice...
s.
The production of
10Be is inversely proportional to the solar activity, because the increased
solar windThe solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
during periods of high solar magnetic activity in turn decreases the flux of
galactic cosmic rayGalactic cosmic rays are cosmic rays that have their origin inside our Galaxy. GCRs are high-energy charged particles, and are usually protons, electrons, and fully ionized nuclei of light elements...
s that reach the Earth. Nuclear explosions also form
10Be by the reaction of fast neutrons with
13C in the carbon dioxide in air. This is one of the indicators of past activity at nuclear weapon test sites.
The isotope
7Be (half-life 53 days) is also cosmogenic, and shows an atmospheric abundance linked to sunspots much like
10Be.
8Be has a very short half-life of about 7 s that contributes to its significant cosmological role, as elements heavier than beryllium could not have been produced by nuclear fusion in the
Big BangThe Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
. This is due to the lack of sufficient time during the Big Bang's
nucleosynthesisNucleosynthesis is the process of creating new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons . It is thought that the primordial nucleons themselves were formed from the quark–gluon plasma from the Big Bang as it cooled below two trillion degrees...
phase to produce carbon by the fusion of
4He nuclei and the very low concentrations of available beryllium-8. The British
astronomerAn astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
Sir
Fred HoyleSir Fred Hoyle FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician noted primarily for his contribution to the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and his often controversial stance on other cosmological and scientific matters—in particular his rejection of the "Big Bang" theory, a term originally...
first showed that the energy levels of
8Be and
12C allow carbon production by the so-called
triple-alpha processThe triple alpha process is a set of nuclear fusion reactions by which three helium-4 nuclei are transformed into carbon.Older stars start to accumulate helium produced by the proton–proton chain reaction and the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen cycle in their cores...
in helium-fueled stars where more nucleosynthesis time is available, thus making creation of
carbon-based lifeCarbon forms the backbone of biology for all of life on Earth. Complex molecules are made up of carbon bonded with other elements, especially oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen, and carbon is able to bond with all of these because of its four valence electrons. Carbon is abundant on earth...
possible from the gas and dust ejected by
supernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
s (see also
Big Bang nucleosynthesisIn physical cosmology, Big Bang nucleosynthesis refers to the production of nuclei other than those of H-1 during the early phases of the universe...
).
The innermost electrons of beryllium may contribute to chemical bonding. Therefore, when
7Be decays by
electron captureElectron capture is a process in which a proton-rich nuclide absorbs an inner atomic electron and simultaneously emits a neutrino...
, it does so by taking electrons from
atomic orbitalAn atomic orbital is a mathematical function that describes the wave-like behavior of either one electron or a pair of electrons in an atom. This function can be used to calculate the probability of finding any electron of an atom in any specific region around the atom's nucleus...
s that may participate in bonding. This makes its decay rate dependent to a measurable degree upon its electron configuration – a rare occurrence in nuclear decay.
The shortest-lived known isotope of beryllium is
13Be which decays through
neutron emissionNeutron emission is a type of radioactive decay of atoms containing excess neutrons, in which a neutron is simply ejected from the nucleus. Two examples of isotopes which emit neutrons are helium-5 and beryllium-13...
. It has a half-life of 2.7 × 10
−21 s.
6Be is also very short-lived with a half-life of 5.0 × 10
−21 s. The exotic isotopes
11Be and
14Be are known to exhibit a nuclear halo. This phenomenon can be understood as the nuclei of
11Be and
14Be have, respectively, 1 and 4 neutrons orbiting substantially outside the classical Fermi 'waterdrop' model of the nucleus.
Occurrence
Beryllium is scarce in the universe. With a concentration of 1 part per billion (ppb) by weight, it is much less abundant than all elements preceding niobium, with the exception of
boronBoron is the chemical element with atomic number 5 and the chemical symbol B. Boron is a metalloid. Because boron is not produced by stellar nucleosynthesis, it is a low-abundance element in both the solar system and the Earth's crust. However, boron is concentrated on Earth by the...
, which has a similar abundance. Beryllium is similarly rare in the Sun with a concentration of 0.1 ppb by weight, similar to that of
rheniumRhenium is a chemical element with the symbol Re and atomic number 75. It is a silvery-white, heavy, third-row transition metal in group 7 of the periodic table. With an average concentration of 1 part per billion , rhenium is one of the rarest elements in the Earth's crust. The free element has...
.
The beryllium concentration in the Earth's surface rocks is ca. 4–6 ppm by atoms. Beryllium is a major constituent of about 100 out of some 4000 known
mineralA mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s, the most important of which are
bertranditeBertrandite is a beryllium sorosilicate hydroxide mineral with composition: Be4Si2O72. Bertrandite is a colorless to pale yellow orthorhombic mineral with a hardness of 6-7. It is commonly found in beryllium rich pegmatites and is in part an alteration of beryl. Bertrandite often occurs as a...
(Be
4Si
2O
7(OH)
2),
berylThe mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size. Terminated crystals are relatively rare...
(Al
2Be
3Si
6O
18),
chrysoberylThe mineral or gemstone chrysoberyl is an aluminate of beryllium with the formula BeAl2O4. The name chrysoberyl is derived from the Greek words χρυσός chrysos and βήρυλλος beryllos, meaning "a gold-white spar". Despite the similarity of their names, chrysoberyl and beryl are two completely...
(Al
2BeO
4) and
phenakitePhenakite or phenacite is a fairly rare nesosilicate mineral consisting of beryllium orthosilicate, Be2SiO4. Occasionally used as a gemstone, phenakite occurs as isolated crystals, which are rhombohedral with parallel-faced hemihedrism, and are either lenticular or prismatic in habit: the...
(Be
2SiO
4). Precious forms of beryl are aquamarine, bixbite and
emeraldEmerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
.
In sea water, beryllium is exceedingly rare, more so than even
scandiumScandium is a chemical element with symbol Sc and atomic number 21. A silvery-white metallic transition metal, it has historically been sometimes classified as a rare earth element, together with yttrium and the lanthanoids...
, comprising only 0.0006 ppb by weight. In stream water, however, beryllium is more abundant with 0.1 ppb by weight.
Production
Because of its high affinity for oxygen at elevated temperatures, and its ability to reduce water when its oxide film is removed, the extraction of beryllium from its compounds is a difficult process.
ElectrolysisIn chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
of a mixture of
beryllium fluorideBeryllium fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula BeF2. This white solid is the principal precursor for the manufacture of beryllium metal.-Structure and bonding:...
and
sodium fluorideSodium fluoride is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula NaF. A colorless solid, it is a source of the fluoride ion in diverse applications. Sodium fluoride is less expensive and less hygroscopic than the related salt potassium fluoride....
was used to isolate beryllium during the 19th century. The metal's high melting point makes this process more energy-consuming than corresponding processes used for the alkali metals. Early in the 20th century, the production of beryllium by the thermal decomposition of
beryllium iodideBeryllium iodide is the chemical compound with the formula BeI2. It is very hygroscopic and reacts violently with water, forming hydroiodic acid.-Reactions:...
was investigated following the success of a similar process for the production of
zirconiumZirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name of zirconium is taken from the mineral zircon. Its atomic mass is 91.224. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal that resembles titanium...
, but this process proved to be uneconomical for volume production.
Pure beryllium metal did not become readily available until 1957, even though it had been used as an alloying metal to harden and toughen copper much earlier. Beryllium could be produced by reducing beryllium compounds such as
beryllium chlorideBeryllium chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula BeCl2. It is a colourless, hygroscopic solid that dissolves well in many polar solvents...
with metallic potassium or sodium. Currently most beryllium is produced by reducing beryllium fluoride with purified
magnesiumMagnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg, atomic number 12, and common oxidation number +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust and ninth in the known universe as a whole...
. The price on the American market for vacuum-cast beryllium ingots was about $338 per pound ($745 per kilogram) in 2001. The chemical equation for the key reaction is as follows:
- BeF2 + Mg → MgF2 + Be
The United States, China and Kazakhstan are the only three countries involved in the industrial scale extraction of beryllium. In the US,
Brush Wellman Inc.Brush Engineered Materials Inc. is a multinational company specializing in high performance engineered materials emphasizing the qualities of strength, reliability, miniaturization and weight savings, thermal dissipation, electrical conductivity and reflectivity...
is the main producer of beryllium and beryllium products. This company smelts its beryllium ore, which contains the mineral
bertranditeBertrandite is a beryllium sorosilicate hydroxide mineral with composition: Be4Si2O72. Bertrandite is a colorless to pale yellow orthorhombic mineral with a hardness of 6-7. It is commonly found in beryllium rich pegmatites and is in part an alteration of beryl. Bertrandite often occurs as a...
, and which comes mostly from the company-owned Spor Mountain deposit in the State of Utah. The smelting and other refining of the beryllium is carried out at a factory 10 miles north of
Delta, UtahDelta is a city in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 3,209 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Delta is located at ....
, a location chosen for its remoteness and proximity to the
Intermountain Power ProjectThe Intermountain Power Agency located in Utah is responsible for running the Intermountain Power Project near Delta, Utah, a coal fired power plant capable of generating 1800 megawatts...
. Between 1998 and 2008, the world's production of beryllium had decreased from 343 to about 200
tonneThe tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s, of which 176 tonnes (88%) came from the United States.
Chemical properties
Beryllium metal is located above aluminium in the electrochemical series and therefore is expected to show significant chemical activity; however, it is passivated by an oxide layer and does not react with air or water even at
red heatThe practice of using colours to determine the temperature of a piece of ferrous metal comes from blacksmithing. Long before thermometers were widely available it was necessary to know what state the metal was in for heat treating it and the only way to do this was to heat it up to a colour which...
. Once ignited, beryllium burns brilliantly forming a mixture of
beryllium oxideBeryllium oxide , also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO. This colourless solid is a notable electrical insulator with a higher thermal conductivity than any other non-metal except diamond, and actually exceeds that of some metals. As an amorphous solid, beryllium...
and
beryllium nitrideBeryllium nitride, Be3N2, is a nitride of beryllium. It can be prepared from the elements at high temperature , different Beryllium azide or BeN6,it decomposes in vacuum into beryllium and nitrogen. It is readily hydrolysed forming beryllium hydroxide and ammonia. It has two polymorphic forms cubic...
. Beryllium dissolves readily in non-
oxidizing acidAn oxidizing acid is a Brønsted acid that is also a strong oxidizing agent . All Brønsted acids can act as moderately strong oxidizing agents, because the acidic proton can be reduced to hydrogen gas. Some acids contain other structures that act as stronger oxidizing agents than hydrogen....
s, such as HCl and diluted H
2SO
4, but not in
nitric acidNitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
as this forms the oxide. This behavior is similar to that of aluminium metal. Beryllium, again similarly to aluminium, dissolves in warm alkali solutions to form the beryllate anion, Be(OH)
42−, and hydrogen gas.
The beryllium atom has the electronic configuration [He] 2s
2. In beryllium compounds the two electrons are lost and beryllium is in the +2
oxidation stateIn chemistry, the oxidation state is an indicator of the degree of oxidation of an atom in a chemical compound. The formal oxidation state is the hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were 100% ionic. Oxidation states are typically represented by...
; the only evidence of lower valence of beryllium is in the solubility of the metal in BeCl
2. The small
atomic radiusThe atomic radius of a chemical element is a measure of the size of its atoms, usually the mean or typical distance from the nucleus to the boundary of the surrounding cloud of electrons...
leads to significant
covalentA covalent bond is a form of chemical bonding that is characterized by the sharing of pairs of electrons between atoms. The stable balance of attractive and repulsive forces between atoms when they share electrons is known as covalent bonding....
character in beryllium's bonding. Beryllium is 4-fold coordinated in virtually all of its derivatives, e.g. [Be(H
2O)
4]
2+ and tetrahaloberyllates, BeX
42−. This characteristic is employed in analytical techniques using
EDTAEthylenediaminetetraacetic acid, widely abbreviated as EDTA , is a polyamino carboxylic acid and a colourless, water-soluble solid. Its conjugate base is named ethylenediaminetetraacetate. It is widely used to dissolve limescale. Its usefulness arises because of its role as a hexadentate ligand...
as a ligand. EDTA preferentially forms
octahedral complexesIn chemistry, octahedral molecular geometry describes the shape of compounds where in six atoms or groups of atoms or ligands are symmetrically arranged around a central atom, defining the vertices of an octahedron...
– thus absorbing other cations such as Al
3+ which might interfere – for example, in the
solvent extractionLiquid–liquid extraction, also known as solvent extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds based on their relative solubilities in two different immiscible liquids, usually water and an organic solvent. It is an extraction of a substance from one liquid phase into another liquid...
of a complex formed between Be
2+ and
acetylacetoneAcetylacetone is an organic compound that famously exists in two tautomeric forms that rapidly interconvert. The less stable tautomer is a diketone formally named pentane-2,4-dione. The more common tautomer is the enol form. The pair of tautomers rapidly interconvert and are treated as a single...
.
Solutions of beryllium salts, e.g.
beryllium sulfateBeryllium sulfate is a white crystalline solid. It was first isolated in 1815 by Jons Jakob Berzelius.Beryllium sulfate may be prepared by treating an aqueous solution of any beryllium salt with sulfuric acid, followed by evaporation of the solution and crystallization...
and
beryllium nitrateBeryllium nitrate, also known as beryllium dinitrate, is an ionic beryllium salt of nitric acid with the chemical formula Be2. Each formula unit is composed of one Be2+ cation and two NO3- anions.- Hazards :...
, are acidic because of hydrolysis of the [Be(H
2O)
4]
2+ ion.
- [Be(H2O)4]2+ + H2O [Be(H2O)3(OH)]+ + H3O+
Other products of hydrolysis include the
trimerIn chemistry, a trimer is a product derived from three identical precursors. Trimers are typically cyclic. Chemical compounds that often trimerise are aliphatic isocyanates and cyanic acids. Often, trimerization competes with polymerization....
ic ion [Be
3(OH)
3(H
2O)
6]
3+.
Beryllium hydroxideBeryllium hydroxide, Be2 is an amphoteric hydroxide, dissolving in both acids and alkalis. Industrially it is produced as a by-product in the extraction of beryllium metal from the ores, beryl and bertrandite. When alkali is added to beryllium salt solutions the α-form is formed. If this left to...
, Be(OH)
2, is insoluble even in acidic solutions with pH less than 6, that is at biological pH. It is
amphotericIn chemistry, an amphoteric species is a molecule or ion that can react as an acid as well as a base. The word is derived from the Greek word amphoteroi meaning "both"...
and dissolves in strongly
alkalineAlkalinity or AT measures the ability of a solution to neutralize acids to the equivalence point of carbonate or bicarbonate. The alkalinity is equal to the stoichiometric sum of the bases in solution...
solutions.
Beryllium forms
binary compoundA binary compound is a chemical compound that contains exactly two different elements. Examples of binary ionic compounds include calcium chloride , sodium fluoride , and magnesium oxide , whilst examples of binary covalent compounds include water , carbon monoxide , and sulfur hexafluoride...
s with many non-metals.
AnhydrousAs a general term, a substance is said to be anhydrous if it contains no water. The way of achieving the anhydrous form differs from one substance to another...
halideA halide is a binary compound, of which one part is a halogen atom and the other part is an element or radical that is less electronegative than the halogen, to make a fluoride, chloride, bromide, iodide, or astatide compound. Many salts are halides...
s are known for F, Cl, Br and I.
BeF2Beryllium fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula BeF2. This white solid is the principal precursor for the manufacture of beryllium metal.-Structure and bonding:...
has a silica-like structure with corner-shared BeF
4 tetrahedra.
BeCl2Beryllium chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula BeCl2. It is a colourless, hygroscopic solid that dissolves well in many polar solvents...
and
BeBr2Beryllium bromide is the chemical compound with the formula BeBr2. It is very hygroscopic and dissolves well in water.-Reactions:Beryllium bromide can be prepared by reacting beryllium metal with elemental bromine at temperatures of 500°C to 700°C:...
have chain structures with edge-shared tetrahedra. All beryllium halides have a linear monomeric molecular structure in the gas phase.
Beryllium oxideBeryllium oxide , also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO. This colourless solid is a notable electrical insulator with a higher thermal conductivity than any other non-metal except diamond, and actually exceeds that of some metals. As an amorphous solid, beryllium...
, BeO, is a white
refractoryA refractory material is one that retains its strength at high temperatures. ASTM C71 defines refractories as "non-metallic materials having those chemical and physical properties that make them applicable for structures, or as components of systems, that are exposed to environments above...
solid, which has the
wurtziteZinc sulfide is a inorganic compound with the formula ZnS. ZnS is the main form of zinc in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite...
crystal structure and a thermal conductivity as high as in some metals. BeO is amphoteric. Salts of beryllium can be produced by treating Be(OH)
2 with acid. Beryllium
sulfideA sulfide is an anion of sulfur in its lowest oxidation state of 2-. Sulfide is also a slightly archaic term for thioethers, a common type of organosulfur compound that are well known for their bad odors.- Properties :...
,
selenideA selenide is a chemical compound in which selenium serves as an anion with oxidation number of −2 , much as sulfur does in a sulfide. The chemistry of the selenides and sulfides are similar....
and
tellurideThe telluride ion is Te2−. It is the final stable member of the series of dianions O2−, S2−, and Se2− ....
are known, all having the
zincblende structureIn crystallography, the cubic crystal system is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in crystals and minerals....
.
Beryllium nitrideBeryllium nitride, Be3N2, is a nitride of beryllium. It can be prepared from the elements at high temperature , different Beryllium azide or BeN6,it decomposes in vacuum into beryllium and nitrogen. It is readily hydrolysed forming beryllium hydroxide and ammonia. It has two polymorphic forms cubic...
, Be
3N
2 is a high-melting-point compound which is readily hydrolyzed. Beryllium azide, BeN
6 is known and beryllium phosphide, Be
3P
2 has a similar structure to Be
3N
2. Basic beryllium nitrate and
basic beryllium acetateBasic beryllium acetate is the chemical compound with the formula Be4O6. Although this compound has no applications and has been only lightly studied, it adopts a distinctive structure. "Basic acetates" consist of an ensemble of metal atoms, a central oxide atom, and an exterior of acetate groups...
have similar tetrahedral structures with four beryllium atoms coordinated to a central oxide ion. A number of beryllium
borideIn chemistry a boride is a chemical compound between boron and a less electronegative element, for example silicon boride . The borides are a very large group of compounds that are generally high melting and are not ionic in nature. Some borides exhibit very useful physical properties. The term...
s are known, such as Be
5B, Be
4B, Be
2B, BeB
2, BeB
6 and BeB
12.
Beryllium carbideBeryllium carbide, or Be2C, is a metal carbide. Similar to diamond, it is a very hard compound.-Preparation:Beryllium carbide is prepared by heating the elements beryllium and carbon at elevated temperatures...
, Be
2C, is a refractory brick-red compound that reacts with water to give
methaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, the principal component of natural gas, and probably the most abundant organic compound on earth. The relative abundance of methane makes it an attractive fuel...
. No beryllium
silicideA silicide is a compound that has silicon with more electropositive elements.Silicon is more electropositive than carbon. Silicides are structurally closer to borides than to carbides....
has been identified.
History
Early analyses of
emeraldEmerald is a variety of the mineral beryl colored green by trace amounts of chromium and sometimes vanadium. Beryl has a hardness of 7.5–8 on the 10 point Mohs scale of mineral hardness...
s and
berylThe mineral beryl is a beryllium aluminium cyclosilicate with the chemical formula Be3Al26. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size. Terminated crystals are relatively rare...
s always yielded similar elements, leading to the fallacious conclusion that both substances are
aluminium silicateAluminium silicate has the chemical formula 2SiO3. It has a density of 2.8 to 2.9 g/cm³, a vitreous lustre, a refractive index of 1.56, a Mohs hardness of 4.5-7.5 , and can have orthorhombic crystallography...
s.
René Just HaüyRené Just Haüy – 3 June 1822 in Paris) was a French mineralogist, commonly styled the Abbé Haüy after he was made an honorary canon of Notre Dame. He is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Crystallography." -Biography:...
discovered that both crystals show strong similarities, and he asked the
chemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin for a chemical analysis. Vauquelin was able to separate the aluminium from the beryllium by dissolving the
aluminium hydroxideAluminium hydroxide, Al3, ATH, sometimes erroneously called Hydrate of alumina, is found in nature as the mineral gibbsite and its three, much more rare forms, polymorphs: bayerite, doyleite and nordstrandite. Closely related are aluminium oxide hydroxide, AlO, and aluminium oxide, Al2O3,...
in an additional
alkaliIn chemistry, an alkali is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or alkaline earth metal element. Some authors also define an alkali as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a soluble base has a pH greater than 7. The adjective alkaline is commonly used in English as a synonym for base,...
. Vauquelin named the new element "glucinum" for the sweet taste of some of its compounds.
Friedrich WöhlerFriedrich Wöhler was a German chemist, best known for his synthesis of urea, but also the first to isolate several chemical elements.-Biography:He was born in Eschersheim, which belonged to aau...
and
Antoine BussyAntoine Alexandre Brutus Bussy was a French chemist who primarily studied bussays.Antoine Bussy entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1813, and there followed the courses delivered by Pierre Robiquet, the great French chemist who was to make decisive breakthroughs in bio-chemistry Antoine Alexandre...
independently isolated beryllium in 1828 by the
chemical reactionA chemical reaction is a process that leads to the transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. Chemical reactions can be either spontaneous, requiring no input of energy, or non-spontaneous, typically following the input of some type of energy, such as heat, light or electricity...
of metallic
potassiumPotassium is the chemical element with the symbol K and atomic number 19. Elemental potassium is a soft silvery-white alkali metal that oxidizes rapidly in air and is very reactive with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite the hydrogen emitted in the reaction.Potassium and sodium are...
with
beryllium chlorideBeryllium chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula BeCl2. It is a colourless, hygroscopic solid that dissolves well in many polar solvents...
, as follows:
- BeCl2 + 2 K → 2 KCl + Be
The potassium itself had been produced by the
electrolysisIn chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a method of using a direct electric current to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction...
of its compounds, a newly discovered process. This chemical method yielded only small grains of beryllium from which no ingot of metal could be cast or hammered. The direct electrolysis of a molten mixture of
beryllium fluorideBeryllium fluoride is the inorganic compound with the formula BeF2. This white solid is the principal precursor for the manufacture of beryllium metal.-Structure and bonding:...
and
sodium fluorideSodium fluoride is an inorganic chemical compound with the formula NaF. A colorless solid, it is a source of the fluoride ion in diverse applications. Sodium fluoride is less expensive and less hygroscopic than the related salt potassium fluoride....
by Paul Lebeau in 1898 resulted in the first pure samples of beryllium. It took until
World War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(1914–18) before significant amounts of beryllium were produced, but large-scale production was not started until early 1930s. It saw a rapid increase during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, due to the rising demand for hard beryllium-copper
alloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
s and
phosphorA phosphor, most generally, is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence. Somewhat confusingly, this includes both phosphorescent materials, which show a slow decay in brightness , and fluorescent materials, where the emission decay takes place over tens of nanoseconds...
s for fluorescent lights. In the first years, most fluorescent lamps used zinc orthosilicate with varying content of beryllium to emit greenish light. Small additions of magnesium
tungstateIn chemistry a tungstate is a compound that contains an oxoanion of tungsten or is a mixed oxide containing tungsten. The simplest tungstate ion is WO42−, "orthotungstate"...
improved the blue part of the spectrum yielding acceptable white. After it was discovered that beryllium was toxic, halophosphate-based phosphors took over.
Etymology
Early usage of the word beryllium can be traced to many languages, including
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
Beryllus; French Béry;
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
βήρυλλος, bērullos, beryl;
PrakritPrakrit is the name for a group of Middle Indic, Indo-Aryan languages, derived from Old Indic dialects. The word itself has a flexible definition, being defined sometimes as, "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", or "vernacular", in contrast to the literary and religious...
veruliya (वॆरुलिय);
Pāli
veḷuriya (वेलुरिय), veḷiru (भेलिरु) or viḷar (भिलर्) – "to become pale," in reference to the pale semiprecious gemstone beryl. The original source is probably the
SanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
word वैडूर्य vaidurya-, which is of
DravidianThe Dravidian language family includes approximately 85 genetically related languages, spoken by about 217 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and...
origin and could be derived from the name of the modern city of
BelurBelur may refer to any of the following:* Belur, Karnataka, town in Karnataka, India* Belur, West Bengal, India, a locality on the west bank of the Hooghly River* Belur Math, the religious abbey located in Belur, West Bengal, India...
. For about 160 years, beryllium was also known as
glucinum or
glucinium (with the accompanying chemical symbol "
Gl",), the name coming from the
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
word for sweet: γλυκυς, due to the sweet taste of beryllium salts.
Applications
It is estimated that most beryllium is used for military applications, so information is not readily available.
Radiation windows
Because of its low atomic number and very low absorption for X-rays, the oldest and still one of the most important applications of beryllium is in radiation windows for X-ray tubes. Extreme demands are placed on purity and cleanliness of beryllium to avoid artifacts in the X-ray images. Thin beryllium foils are used as radiation windows for X-ray detectors, and the extremely low absorption minimizes the heating effects caused by high intensity, low energy X-rays typical of
synchrotronA synchrotron is a particular type of cyclic particle accelerator in which the magnetic field and the electric field are carefully synchronised with the travelling particle beam. The proton synchrotron was originally conceived by Sir Marcus Oliphant...
radiation. Vacuum-tight windows and beam-tubes for radiation experiments on synchrotrons are manufactured exclusively from beryllium. In scientific setups for various X-ray emission studies (e.g.,
energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopyEnergy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy is an analytical technique used for the elemental analysis or chemical characterization of a sample. It relies on the investigation of an interaction of a some source of X-ray excitation and a sample...
) the sample holder is usually made of beryllium because its emitted X-rays have much lower energies (~100 eV) than X-rays from most studied materials.
Low
atomic numberIn chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...
also makes beryllium relatively transparent to energetic
particlesIn particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a particle not known to have substructure; that is, it is not known to be made up of smaller particles. If an elementary particle truly has no substructure, then it is one of the basic building blocks of the universe from which...
. Therefore it is used to build the
beam pipeIn particle physics, a beamline is the line in a linear accelerator along which a beam of particles travels. It may also refer to the line of travel within a bending section such as a storage ring or cyclotron, or an external beam extracted from a cyclic accelerator.In materials science, physics,...
around the collision region in
particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
setups, such as all four main detector experiments at the
Large Hadron ColliderThe Large Hadron Collider is the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator. It is expected to address some of the most fundamental questions of physics, advancing the understanding of the deepest laws of nature....
(
ALICEALICE is one of the six detector experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The other five are: ATLAS, CMS, TOTEM, LHCb, and LHCf. ALICE is optimized to study heavy ion collisions. Pb-Pb nuclei collisions will be studied at a centre of mass energy of 2.76 TeV per nucleon...
,
ATLASATLAS is one of the six particle detector experiments constructed at the Large Hadron Collider , a new particle accelerator at the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland...
,
CMSThe Compact Muon Solenoid experiment is one of two large general-purpose particle physics detectors built on the proton-proton Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland and France. Approximately 3,600 people from 183 scientific institutes, representing 38 countries form the CMS collaboration...
,
LHCbLHCb is one of six particle physics detector experiments collecting data at the Large Hadron Collider accelerator at CERN. LHCb is a specialized b-physics experiment, that is measuring the parameters of CP violation in the interactions of b-hadrons...
), the
TevatronThe Tevatron is a circular particle accelerator in the United States, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory , just east of Batavia, Illinois, and is the second highest energy particle collider in the world after the Large Hadron Collider...
and the SLAC. The low density of beryllium allows collision products to reach the surrounding detectors without significant interaction, its stiffness allows a powerful vacuum to be produced within the pipe to minimize interaction with gases, its thermal stability allows it to function correctly at temperatures of only a few degrees above
absolute zeroAbsolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which entropy reaches its minimum value. The laws of thermodynamics state that absolute zero cannot be reached using only thermodynamic means....
, and its diamagnetic nature keeps it from interfering with the complex multipole magnet systems used to steer and
focusIn accelerator physics strong focusing or alternating-gradient focusing is the principle that the net effect on a particle beam of charged particles passing through alternating field gradients is to make the beam converge...
the
particle beamA particle beam is a stream of charged or neutral particles which may be directed by magnets and focused by electrostatic lenses, although they may also be self-focusing ....
s.
Mechanical applications
Because of its stiffness, light weight and dimensional stability over a wide temperature range, beryllium metal is used for lightweight structural components in the defense and
aerospaceAerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...
industries in high-speed
aircraftAn aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
,
missileThough a missile may be any thrown or launched object, it colloquially almost always refers to a self-propelled guided weapon system.-Etymology:The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, meaning "to send"...
s, space vehicles and communication satellites. Several liquid-fuel rockets use nozzles of pure beryllium. A small number of
bicycle frameA bicycle frame is the main component of a bicycle, on to which wheels and other components are fitted. The modern and most common frame design for an upright bicycle is based on the safety bicycle, and consists of two triangles, a main triangle and a paired rear triangle...
s were built with beryllium, at "astonishing" prices.
Beryllium is used as an
alloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
ing agent in the production of
beryllium copperBeryllium copper , also known as copper beryllium, beryllium bronze and spring copper, is a copper alloy with 0.5—3% beryllium and sometimes with other alloying elements. Beryllium copper combines high strength with non-magnetic and non-sparking qualities. It has excellent metalworking, forming...
, which contains up to 2.5% beryllium. Beryllium-copper alloys are used in many applications because of their combination of high electrical and
thermal conductivityIn physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
, high strength and hardness, nonmagnetic properties, along with good
corrosionCorrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
and
fatigue'In materials science, fatigue is the progressive and localized structural damage that occurs when a material is subjected to cyclic loading. The nominal maximum stress values are less than the ultimate tensile stress limit, and may be below the yield stress limit of the material.Fatigue occurs...
resistance. These applications include the making of
spot weldingSpot welding is a process in which contacting metal surfaces are joined by the heat obtained from resistance to electric current flow. Work-pieces are held together under pressure exerted by electrodes. Typically the sheets are in the thickness range...
electrodes,
springsA spring is an elastic object used to store mechanical energy. Springs are usually made out of spring steel. Small springs can be wound from pre-hardened stock, while larger ones are made from annealed steel and hardened after fabrication...
, non-sparking tools and electrical contacts.
The excellent elastic rigidity of beryllium has led to its extensive use in precision instrumentation, e.g. in
gyroscopeA gyroscope is a device for measuring or maintaining orientation, based on the principles of angular momentum. In essence, a mechanical gyroscope is a spinning wheel or disk whose axle is free to take any orientation...
inertial guidance systems and in support structures for optical systems. Beryllium-copper alloys were also applied as a hardening agent in Jason pistols, which were used to strip paint from the hulls of ships.
An earlier major application of beryllium was in
brakeA brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....
s for military aircraft because of its hardness, high melting point and exceptional heat dissipation. Environmental considerations have led to substitution by other materials.
To reduce cost, beryllium may be fabricated with large amounts of
aluminiumAluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
, resulting in
AlBeMetAlBeMet® is the trade name of the Materion Brush Beryllium & Composites company for a beryllium and aluminium composite material derived by a powder metallurgy process. AlBeMet® is formed by hot consolidating gas atomized prealloyed powder. Each powder particle contains aluminium between beryllium...
(trade name). This blend is cheaper, while still retaining many desirable properties.
Mirrors
Beryllium
mirrorA mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
s are of particular interest. Large-area mirrors, frequently with a
honeycomb support structureA honeycomb mirror is a large mirror usually used as the primary mirror in astronomical reflecting telescopes whose face is supported by a ribbed structure that resembles a honeycomb. The design provides sufficient rigidity for ultra-high precision optics while reducing the weight of the mirror...
, are used, for example, in meteorological satellites where low weight and long-term dimensional stability are critical. Smaller beryllium mirrors are used in
optical guidanceA control system is a device, or set of devices to manage, command, direct or regulate the behavior of other devices or system.There are two common classes of control systems, with many variations and combinations: logic or sequential controls, and feedback or linear controls...
systems and in
fire-control systemA fire-control system is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human gunner firing a weapon, but attempts to do so faster and more...
s, e.g. in the German-made Leopard 1 and
Leopard 2The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve...
main battle tankA main battle tank , also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the heavy direct fire role of many modern armies. They were originally conceived to replace the light, medium, heavy and super-heavy tanks. Development was spurred onwards in the Cold War with the development...
s. In these systems, very rapid movement of the mirror is required which again dictates low mass and high rigidity. Usually the beryllium mirror is coated with hard
electroless nickel platingElectroless nickel plating is an auto-catalytic chemical technique used to deposit a layer of nickel-phosphorus or nickel-boron alloy on a solid workpiece, such as metal or plastic. The process relies on the presence of a reducing agent, for example hydrated sodium hypophosphite which reacts with...
which can be more easily polished to a finer optical finish than beryllium. In some applications, though, the beryllium blank is polished without any coating. This is particularly applicable to cryogenic operation where thermal expansion mismatch can cause the coating to buckle.
The
James Webb Space TelescopeThe James Webb Space Telescope , previously known as Next Generation Space Telescope , is a planned next-generation space telescope, optimized for observations in the infrared. The main technical features are a large and very cold 6.5 meter diameter mirror, an observing position far from Earth,...
will have 18 hexagonal beryllium sections for its mirrors. Because JWST will face a temperature of 33 K, the mirror is made of beryllium, capable of handling extreme cold better than glass. Beryllium contracts and deforms less than glass – and remains more uniform – in such temperatures. For the same reason, the optics of the
Spitzer Space TelescopeThe Spitzer Space Telescope , formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility is an infrared space observatory launched in 2003...
are entirely built of beryllium metal.
Magnetic applications
Beryllium is non-magnetic. Therefore, tools fabricated out of beryllium are used by naval or military explosive ordnance disposal teams for work on or near
naval mineA naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, an enemy vessel...
s, since these mines commonly have
magnetic fuzeFuze Beverage, commercially referred to as just Fuze , is a manufacturer of teas and non-carbonated fruit drinks enriched with vitamins. Currently the brand consists of five vitamin-infused lines: Slenderize, Refresh, Tea, Defensify, and Vitalize...
s. They are also found in maintenance and construction materials near
magnetic resonance imagingMagnetic resonance imaging , nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , or magnetic resonance tomography is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to visualize detailed internal structures...
(MRI) machines because of the high magnetic fields generated by them. In the fields of radio communications and powerful (usually military)
radarRadar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
s, hand tools made of beryllium are used to tune the highly magnetic
klystronA klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube . Klystrons are used as amplifiers at microwave and radio frequencies to produce both low-power reference signals for superheterodyne radar receivers and to produce high-power carrier waves for communications and the driving force for modern...
s, magnetrons,
traveling wave tubeA traveling-wave tube is an electronic device used to amplify radio frequency signals to high power, usually in an electronic assembly known as a traveling-wave tube amplifier ....
s, etc., that are used for generating high levels of
microwaveMicrowaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
power in the
transmitterIn electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
s.
Nuclear applications
Thin plates or foils of beryllium are sometimes used in
nuclear weapon designNuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three basic design types...
s as the very outer layer of the plutonium pits in the primary stages of thermonuclear bombs, placed to surround the
fissileIn nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission. By definition, fissile materials can sustain a chain reaction with neutrons of any energy. The predominant neutron energy may be typified by either slow neutrons or fast neutrons...
material. These layers of beryllium are good "pushers" for the implosion of the
plutonium-239Plutonium-239 is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 has also been used and is currently the secondary isotope. Plutonium-239 is also one of the three main isotopes demonstrated usable as fuel in...
, and they are also good
neutron reflectorA neutron reflector is any material that reflects neutrons. This refers to elastic scattering rather than to a specular reflection. The material may be graphite, beryllium, steel, and tungsten carbide, or other materials...
s, just as they are in beryllium-moderated nuclear reactors.
Beryllium is also commonly used as a
neutron sourceA Neutron source is a device that emits neutrons. There is a wide variety of different sources, ranging from hand-held radioactive sources to neutron research facilities operating research reactors and spallation sources...
in laboratory experiments in which relatively few neutrons are needed (rather than having to use a nuclear reactor). For this purpose, a target of beryllium-9 is bombarded with energetic alpha particles from a radio-isotope such as
poloniumPolonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for...
-210,
radiumRadium is a chemical element with atomic number 88, represented by the symbol Ra. Radium is an almost pure-white alkaline earth metal, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, becoming black in color. All isotopes of radium are highly radioactive, with the most stable isotope being radium-226,...
-226,
plutoniumPlutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
-239, or
americiumAmericium is a synthetic element that has the symbol Am and atomic number 95. This transuranic element of the actinide series is located in the periodic table below the lanthanide element europium, and thus by analogy was named after another continent, America.Americium was first produced in 1944...
-241. In the nuclear reaction that occurs, a beryllium nucleus are
transmutedNuclear transmutation is the conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another. In other words, atoms of one element can be changed into atoms of other element by 'transmutation'...
into carbon-12, and one free neutron is emitted, traveling in about the same direction as the alpha particle was heading. Such neutron sources, named "urchin" neutron initiators, were used some in early atomic bombs.
Beryllium is also used at the
Joint European TorusJET, the Joint European Torus, is the largest magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment worldwide currently in operation. Its main purpose is to open the way to future nuclear fusion experimental tokamak reactors such as ITER and :DEMO....
nuclear-fusion research laboratoryNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
, and it will be used in the more advanced
ITERITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
to condition the components which face the plasma. Beryllium has also been proposed as a cladding material for nuclear fuel rods, owing to its good combination of mechanical, chemical and nuclear properties. Beryllium fluoride is one of the constituent salts of the eutectic salt mixture
FLiBeFLiBe is a mixture of lithium fluoride and beryllium fluoride . As a molten salt it is proposed as a nuclear reactor coolant, and two different mixtures were used in the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment....
, which is used as a solvent, moderator and coolant in many hypothetical
molten salt reactorA molten salt reactor is a type of nuclear fission reactor in which the primary coolant, or even the fuel itself is a molten salt mixture...
designs.
Acoustics
Low weight and high rigidity of beryllium make it useful as a material for high-frequency
speaker driverA speaker driver is an individual transducer that converts electrical energy to sound waves, typically as part of a loudspeaker, television, or other electronics device. Sometimes the transducer is itself referred to as a speaker, particularly when a single one is mounted in an enclosure or as...
s. Because beryllium is expensive (many times more than
titaniumTitanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
), hard to shape due to its brittleness, and toxic if mishandled, beryllium
tweeterA tweeter is a loudspeaker designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically from around 2,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz . Some tweeters can manage response up to 65 kHz...
s are limited to high-end home, pro audio and
public addressA public address system is an electronic amplification system with a mixer, amplifier and loudspeakers, used to reinforce a sound source, e.g., a person giving a speech, a DJ playing prerecorded music, and distributing the sound throughout a venue or building.Simple PA systems are often used in...
applications. More often, beryllium is
alloyAn alloy is a mixture or metallic solid solution composed of two or more elements. Complete solid solution alloys give single solid phase microstructure, while partial solutions give two or more phases that may or may not be homogeneous in distribution, depending on thermal history...
ed with other metals, which is sometimes not disclosed for marketing purposes.
Electronic
Beryllium is a
p-typeA P-type semiconductor is obtained by carrying out a process of doping: that is, adding a certain type of atoms to the semiconductor in order to increase the number of free charge carriers ....
dopantA dopant, also called a doping agent, is a trace impurity element that is inserted into a substance in order to alter the electrical properties or the optical properties of the substance. In the case of crystalline substances, the atoms of the dopant very commonly take the place of elements that...
in III-V compound semiconductors. It is widely used in materials such as GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs and InAlAs grown by
molecular beam epitaxyMolecular beam epitaxy is one of several methods of depositing single crystals. It was invented in the late 1960s at Bell Telephone Laboratories by J. R. Arthur and Alfred Y. Cho.-Method:...
(MBE). Cross-rolled beryllium sheet is an excellent structural support for
printed circuit boardA printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
s in
surface-mount technologySurface mount technology is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards . An electronic device so made is called a surface mount device...
. In critical electronic applications, beryllium is both a structural support and
heat sinkA heat sink is a term for a component or assembly that transfers heat generated within a solid material to a fluid medium, such as air or a liquid. Examples of heat sinks are the heat exchangers used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems and the radiator in a car...
. The application also requires a coefficient of
thermal expansionThermal expansion is the tendency of matter to change in volume in response to a change in temperature.When a substance is heated, its particles begin moving more and thus usually maintain a greater average separation. Materials which contract with increasing temperature are rare; this effect is...
that is well matched to the alumina and
polyimide-glassFiberglass , is a fiber reinforced polymer made of a plastic matrix reinforced by fine fibers of glass. It is also known as GFK ....
substrates. The beryllium-beryllium oxide
compositeA metal matrix composite is composite material with at least two constituent parts, one being a metal. The other material may be a different metal or another material, such as a ceramic or organic compound. When at least three materials are present, it is called a hybrid composite...
"
E-MaterialE-Material, also called E Material, is a metal matrix composite consisting of beryllium matrix with beryllium oxide particles. It has high thermal conductivity , and its thermal expansion can be adjusted to match other materials, e.g. silicon and gallium arsenide chips and various ceramics...
s" have been specially designed for these electronic applications and have the additional advantage that the thermal expansion coefficient can be tailored to match diverse substrate materials.
Beryllium oxideBeryllium oxide , also known as beryllia, is an inorganic compound with the formula BeO. This colourless solid is a notable electrical insulator with a higher thermal conductivity than any other non-metal except diamond, and actually exceeds that of some metals. As an amorphous solid, beryllium...
is useful for many applications that require the combined properties of an electrical insulator and an excellent heat conductor, with high strength and hardness, and a very high melting point. Beryllium oxide is frequently used as an insulator base plate in
high-powerPower semiconductor devices are semiconductor devices used as switches or rectifiers in power electronic circuits . They are also called power devices or when used in integrated circuits, called power ICs....
transistorA transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
s in
radio frequencyRadio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
transmitterIn electronics and telecommunications a transmitter or radio transmitter is an electronic device which, with the aid of an antenna, produces radio waves. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the antenna. When excited by this alternating...
s for
telecommunicationTelecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s. Beryllium oxide is also being studied for use in increasing the
thermal conductivityIn physics, thermal conductivity, k, is the property of a material's ability to conduct heat. It appears primarily in Fourier's Law for heat conduction....
of
uranium dioxideUranium dioxide or uranium oxide , also known as urania or uranous oxide, is an oxide of uranium, and is a black, radioactive, crystalline powder that naturally occurs in the mineral uraninite. It is used in nuclear fuel rods in nuclear reactors. A mixture of uranium and plutonium dioxides is used...
nuclear fuelNuclear fuel is a material that can be 'consumed' by fission or fusion to derive nuclear energy. Nuclear fuels are the most dense sources of energy available...
pellets. Beryllium compounds were used in fluorescent lighting tubes, but this use was discontinued because of the disease
berylliosisBerylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease , is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds. As an occupational lung disease, it is most classically associated with beryllium mining or manufacturing of fluorescent light bulbs...
which developed in the workers who were making the tubes.
Complexes
Beryllium(II) readily forms complexes with strong donating ligands such as phosphine oxides and arsine oxides.
There have been extensive studies of these complexes which show the stability of the O-Be bond.
Toxicity
The toxicity of beryllium depends upon the duration, intensity and frequency of exposure (features of dose), as well as the form of beryllium and the route of exposure (e.g., inhalation, dermal, ingestion). According to the
International Agency for Research on CancerThe International Agency for Research on Cancer is an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organisation of the United Nations....
(IARC), beryllium and beryllium compounds are
Category 1 carcinogens; they are carcinogenic to animals (including humans). Chronic
berylliosisBerylliosis, or chronic beryllium disease , is a chronic allergic-type lung response and chronic lung disease caused by exposure to beryllium and its compounds. As an occupational lung disease, it is most classically associated with beryllium mining or manufacturing of fluorescent light bulbs...
is a pulmonary and
systemicSystemic circulation is the part of the cardiovascular system which carries oxygenated blood away from the heart to the body, and returns deoxygenated blood back to the heart. This physiologic theory of circulation was first described by William Harvey...
granulomaGranuloma is a medical term for a tiny collection of immune cells known as macrophages. Granulomas form when the immune system attempts to wall off substances that it perceives as foreign but is unable to eliminate. Such substances include infectious organisms such as bacteria and fungi as well as...
tous disease caused by exposure to beryllium. Acute beryllium disease in the form of
chemical pneumonitisAspiration pneumonitis or chemical pneumonitis is inflammation of the lung caused by aspirating or inhaling irritants. It is sometimes called a "chemical pneumonia", though it is not infectious...
was first reported in Europe in 1933 and in the United States in 1943. Cases of chronic berylliosis were first described in 1946 among workers in plants manufacturing
fluorescent lampA fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
s in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Chronic berylliosis resembles
sarcoidosisSarcoidosis , also called sarcoid, Besnier-Boeck disease or Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann disease, is a disease in which abnormal collections of chronic inflammatory cells form as nodules in multiple organs. The cause of sarcoidosis is unknown...
in many respects, and the
differential diagnosisA differential diagnosis is a systematic diagnostic method used to identify the presence of an entity where multiple alternatives are possible , and may also refer to any of the included candidate alternatives A differential diagnosis (sometimes abbreviated DDx, ddx, DD, D/Dx, or ΔΔ) is a...
is often difficult. It killed some early workers in nuclear weapons design, such as
Herbert L. AndersonHerbert Lawrence Anderson was an American nuclear physicist who contributed to the Manhattan Project. He was also a member of the team which made the first demonstration of nuclear fission in the United States, in the basement of Pupin Hall at Columbia University. He participated in the first...
.
Early researchers tasted beryllium and its various compounds for sweetness in order to verify its presence. Modern diagnostic equipment no longer necessitates this highly risky procedure and no attempt should be made to ingest this highly toxic substance. Beryllium and its compounds should be handled with great care and special precautions must be taken when carrying out any activity which could result in the release of beryllium dust (
lung cancerLung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
is a possible result of prolonged exposure to beryllium laden dust). Although the use of beryllium compounds in fluorescent lighting tubes was discontinued in 1949, potential for exposure to beryllium exists in the nuclear and aerospace industries and in the refining of beryllium metal and melting of beryllium-containing alloys, the manufacturing of electronic devices, and the handling of other beryllium-containing material.
A successful test for beryllium in air and on surfaces has been recently developed and published as an international voluntary consensus standard ASTM D7202. The procedure uses dilute ammonium bifluoride for dissolution and fluorescence detection with beryllium bound to sulfonated hydroxybenzoquinoline, allowing up to 100 times more sensitive detection than the recommended limit for beryllium concentration in the workplace. Fluorescence increases with increasing beryllium concentration. The new procedure has been successfully tested on a variety of surfaces and is effective for the dissolution and ultratrace detection of refractory beryllium oxide and siliceous beryllium (ASTM D7458).
See also
- Sucker Bait
Sucker Bait is a science fiction novella by Isaac Asimov. It was first serialized in the February and March 1954 issues of Astounding Science Fiction, and reprinted in the 1955 collection The Martian Way and Other Stories...
, a story by Isaac AsimovIsaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
in which the health hazard of beryllium dust is an important plot point
Further reading
- Mroz MM, Balkissoon R, Newman LS. "Beryllium." In: Bingham E, Cohrssen B, Powell C (eds.) Patty's Toxicology, Fifth Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons 2001, 177–220.
- Walsh, KA, Beryllium Chemistry and Processing''. Vidal, EE. et al. Eds. 2009, Materials Park, OH:ASM International.
- Beryllium Lymphocyte Proliferation Testing (BeLPT). DOE Specification 1142-2001. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Energy, 2001.
External links