Enhance your product designs with the help of Element North 21, Rio Tinto’s dedicated scandium producer

What is scandium?

Stamped with atomic number 21 on the periodic table and considered the lightest of the transition metals, scandium is a soft and silvery metallic element that is considered a critical mineral by leading countries. It is relatively common in the Earth’s crust.

Today, most of the global supply of scandium is obtained as a by-product of mineral refining processes, like the process implemented at the Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium Quebec Operations.

When combined with aluminium, scandium can significantly increase the strength of aluminium and provides a wide range of desirable properties for many manufacturing purposes.

A win for decarbonisation targets, scandium oxide is used in the production of solid oxide fuel cells for buildings and other infrastructure. Moreover, scandium alloys are fully recyclable and can be successfully combined with other alloys during the recycling process.

Maximizing innovation through the power of scandium
Imparting desirable properties to aluminium
With small additions, scandium can improve aluminium alloys on all fronts, going so far as surpassing the properties of traditional alloys, thanks in part to its higher thermal stability and mechanical properties.

BOTTOM LINE: Scandium provides today’s manufactures and engineers with maintained conductivity capacity and lower operational impacts. This can translate to significant cost savings in manufacturing processes and better performance in application.

Strength improvement
This graph shows that when you add as little as 0.1% of scandium to aluminium through a microalloying process, it increases its yield strength by up to 50 MPa, providing you in turn with a lighter, stronger, and higher performance alloy with limited impact on thermal and electrical conductivity.*

BOTTOM LINE: When making Sc a key ingredient in their products, manufacturers can explore more options that allow them to redefine and push the limits of their design and production processes.

Small Sc additions = Higher performance alloys
Thermal resistance
Scandium is an efficient resource to help avoid recrystallization in alloys when exposed temporally to temperatures reaching close to 600 degrees Celsius, as shown on the adjacent graph.**

BOTTOM LINE: Adding scandium to aluminium alloys allows manufacturers to turn up the heat in the factory while avoiding distortions during the formation process.

Enhanced extrusion properties
Custom sizes for accurate microalloying
Whether you’re fabricating next generation’s ski equipment or trying to engineer the latest innovative airframes for today’s aircrafts, we’re here to facilitate your alloy manufacturing process by providing you with scandium in a format and size that best meets your needs.

BOTTOM LINE: Choosing to work with scandium alloyed with aluminium allows you to manufacture lighter products, to optimize the production process and even reduce gas emissions.

Source
*Dorin, T et al., 2018, Fundamentals of Aluminium Metallurgy, Elsevier Ltd., p. 443.
**Zakharov, Effect of scandium on the structure and properties of aluminum alloys, Met. Sci. Heat Treat. 45 (7–8) (2003) 246–253.
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