Because beryllium has a series of invaluable properties, it has become an extremely precious key material in contemporary cutting-edge equipment and national security. Before the 1940s, beryllium was used as an X-ray window and a neutron source. From the mid-1940s to the early 1960s, beryllium was mainly used in the field of atomic energy. Inertial navigation systems such as intercontinental ballistic missiles used beryllium gyroscopes for the first time in 2007, thus opening up an important field of beryllium applications; since the 1960s, the main high-end application fields have turned to the aerospace field, which is used to manufacture vital parts of aerospace vehicles.

Beryllium in nuclear reactors

The production of beryllium and beryllium alloys began in the 1920s. During the Second World War, the beryllium industry developed unprecedentedly due to the need to build nuclear reactors. Beryllium has a large neutron scattering cross section and a small absorption cross section, so it is suitable as a reflector and moderator for nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. And for the manufacture of nuclear targets in nuclear physics, nuclear medicine research, X-ray and scintillation counter probes, etc.; beryllium single crystals can be used to make neutron monochromators, etc.