Beryllium is an emerging material. Beryllium is an indispensable and valuable material in atomic energy, rockets, missiles, aviation, aerospace and metallurgical industries. It can be seen that beryllium has an extremely wide range of applications in industry.
Among all metals, beryllium has the strongest ability to transmit X-rays and is known as metallic glass, so beryllium is an irreplaceable material for making small windows in X-ray tubes.
Beryllium is the treasure of the atomic energy industry. In atomic reactors, beryllium can provide a neutron source for a large number of neutron shells (producing hundreds of thousands of neutrons per second); in addition, it has a strong deceleration effect on fast neutrons, which can make fission reactions continue It goes on and on, so beryllium is the best neutron moderator in an atomic reactor. In order to prevent neutrons from running out of the reactor and endangering the safety of the staff, there must be a circle of neutron reflectors around the reactor to force those neutrons that try to run out of the reactor to return to the reactor. In this way, beryllium oxide can not only reflect neutrons back, but also become the best material for the neutron reflection layer in the reactor due to its high melting point, especially its high temperature resistance.
Beryllium is also a high-quality aerospace material. In artificial satellites, the total weight of the launch vehicle increases by about 500kg for every kilogram of the satellite’s weight. Therefore, structural materials for making rockets and satellites require light weight and high strength. Beryllium is lighter than the commonly used aluminum and titanium, and its strength is four times that of steel. Moreover, beryllium has a strong ability to absorb heat and is mechanically stable.
In the metallurgical industry, green steel containing 1% to 3.5% beryllium is called beryllium bronze, which not only has better mechanical properties than steel, but also has good corrosion resistance and can maintain high electrical conductivity. Therefore, bronze beryllium can be used to make hairsprings in watches, high-speed bearings, submarine cables, etc.
Because beryllium bronze containing a certain amount of nickel does not produce sparks when it is hit, beryllium can be used to make chisels, hammers, drills, etc. for petroleum and mining industries, thereby preventing fire and explosion accidents. In addition, nickel-containing beryllium bronze can be used to make antimagnetic parts because it is not attracted by magnets.