The hardest metal in the world (Titanium, Chromium and Tungsten). Which metal is the hardest, which is the softest

Today we will look at the most durable metals in the world and discuss their properties. And opens the "strength rating" titanium.

Not the most durable?

The name of the metal, presumably, comes from the name of the ancient Greek hero Titan. Therefore, we associate this metal with invincibility. Titanium is considered by many to be the strongest metal in the world. However, in reality this is far from the case.

Pure titanium was first obtained in 1925. On new material immediately attracted attention due to a number of properties. Titanium began to be very actively used in the industrial sector.

Today, titanium is in 10th place among natural metals in terms of prevalence. IN earth's crust it contains about 700 million tons. That is, the current raw materials will last another 150 years.

Titanium has excellent properties. It is a lightweight and durable metal, resistant to corrosion. It is easily heat-treatable and has a wide range of applications. It interacts with other elements of the periodic table only when heated. In nature, it is found in rutile and ilmenite ores. Pure titanium is obtained by sintering ore with chlorine.

It is able to withstand huge loads. The metal is distinguished by its high strength and impact resistance. It is used in the manufacture Vehicle, missiles and even submarines. Titanium withstands the force of pressure even at great depths.

It is also popular in the medical industry. Prostheses based on it do not interact with body tissues and are not subject to corrosion. But over the years, it begins to wear out, which makes it necessary to replace the prosthesis with a new one.

New developments

In 2016, scientists found a way to improve the properties of titanium and make it even more durable. The main goal of research is to find a more resistant material, while being compatible with body tissues. And then they remembered gold, which has been used in prosthetics for many years.

An alloy of titanium and gold, after several attempts to find the ideal ratio of the components, proved to be incredibly durable. 4 times stronger than other metals used today for prosthetics.

Tantalum

One of the most durable metals. Named after the ancient Greek god Tantalus, who angered Zeus and was cast into hell. It has a silvery-white color with a bluish tint. It is a characteristic element of granitic and alkaline magma. It is extracted from the mineral coltan, most large deposits which are found in Brazil and Africa.

It was opened back in 1802. Then it was considered a kind of columbium, but later it was established that these are two different metals, similar in properties. Only after 100 years was it possible to obtain pure tantalum. Its cost today is quite high - $ 150 per 1 kg of metal.

Tantalum is a refractory metal with a fairly high density. From a chemical point of view, it is stable, as it does not dissolve in dilute acids. In powder form, tantalum burns well in air. It is used for the manufacture of electrolytic capacitors, heaters in vacuum furnaces. Tantalum capacitors increase the life of electronic systems up to 10-12 years. It is noteworthy that even jewelers have found application for it - they replace platinum.

The strength test of metals showed that the alloy of tantalum and tungsten has almost one hundred percent strength.

Osmium is the most...

Osmium is another incredibly strong metal. It is also included in the list of the rarest and most expensive. In the composition of the earth's crust, it is present in scanty quantities. It belongs to scattered ones, that is, it does not have its own deposits. Therefore, its extraction is accompanied by enormous difficulties.

Osmium belongs to the group of platinum metals. Its cost is about 10,000 dollars per 1 gram. For the price, it is second only to artificial California. It is made up of several isotopes that are incredibly difficult to separate. The most popular isotope is osmium-187. Its price for 1 gram reaches 200,000 dollars!

Osmium is the champion in density among metals. In addition, it is a high strength metal. Alloys, which contain osmium, acquire resistance to corrosion, become stronger and more durable. Metal is also used in its pure form, for example, for the manufacture of expensive fountain pens, which practically do not wear out and write for years.

Chromium

Chromium, cobalt and tungsten have been known to science since 1913 and are united under the general name - stellites. They retain their hardness even at temperatures of 600 degrees Celsius.

Basically, this metal is found in the deep layers of the Earth. It is also found in the composition of stony meteorites, which are considered analogues of our mantle. Only chrome spinels are of industrial value. Many minerals that contain chromium are completely useless. The purest chromium is obtained by electrolysis of concentrated aqueous solutions or by electrolysis of chromium sulfate.

Metal combined with steel greatly enhances its strength and also adds oxidation resistance. It improves the characteristics of steel without reducing its ductility.

Ruthenium

Belongs to the platinum group and belongs to the noble metals. However, from their list, ruthenium is considered the least noble ... It was discovered by the scientist Karl-Ernst Klaus in 1844. It is noteworthy that the professor constantly sniffed and tasted the results of his research. Once he even got a burn of his mouth when he tasted one of the ruthenium compounds he had discovered.

Its world reserves today are about 5,000 tons. Ruthenium has been studied for a long time, but many of its properties are still unknown. The whole problem is that so far no way has been found to completely purify ruthenium. The contamination of raw materials makes it difficult to investigate its properties. However, doctors are sure that the use of metal in everyday life can increase the incidence among the population. Therefore, the release of the ruthenium-106 isotope in the Urals caused such a resonance in the press. After all, ruthenium-106 has radioactive properties.

At the same time, its value in 2017 unexpectedly surpassed all platinum metals.

Iridium is the strongest metal

It is iridium that has the highest strength. Yes, it is inferior to osmium in density, but it has the highest strength factor. It is also called the rarest of the metals, but in fact the content of astatine in the earth's crust is even less.

Iridium has been studied very carefully. After 70 years, its main properties - incredible strength and resistance to corrosion, have become known throughout the world. Today it is used in many industries. The lion's share of the metal is exploited by the chemical industry. The rest is divided into many other areas, including medicine and jewelry. Iridium combined with platinum creates high-quality and very durable jewelry.

Several scientific disciplines (materials and metal science, physics, chemistry) study the properties and characteristics of metals. There is a generally accepted classification. However, each of the disciplines in their study relies on special specialized parameters that are in the field of its interests. On the other hand, all the sciences that study metals and alloys adhere to the same point of view that there are two main groups: black and non-ferrous.

Signs of metals

There are the following main mechanical properties:

Hardness - determines the ability of one material to resist the penetration of another, harder one.
Fatigue is the amount and time of cyclic impacts that a material can withstand without changing its integrity.
Strength. It consists in the following: if you apply a dynamic, static or alternating load, this will not lead to a change in the shape, structure and dimensions, a violation of the internal and external integrity of the metal.
Plasticity is the ability to maintain integrity and the resulting shape during deformation.
Elasticity is a deformation without breaking the integrity under the influence of certain forces, and also after getting rid of the load, the ability to return to its original shape.
Crack resistance - influenced external forces they are not formed in the material, and external integrity is also maintained.
Wear resistance - the ability to maintain external and internal integrity during prolonged friction.
Viscosity - maintaining integrity under increasing physical stress.
Heat resistance - resistance to change in size, shape and destruction when exposed to high temperatures.

Metal classification

Metals include materials that have a combination of mechanical, technological, operational, physical and chemical characteristic properties:

mechanical confirm the ability to resist deformation and destruction;
technological evidence of the ability to different kind processing;
operational reflect the nature of the change during operation;
chemical show interaction with various substances;
physical ones indicate how the material behaves in different fields - thermal, electromagnetic, gravitational.

According to the metal classification system, all existing materials are divided into two volume groups: black and non-ferrous. Technological and mechanical properties are also closely related. For example, the strength of a metal can be the result of proper processing. For these purposes, the so-called hardening and "aging" are used.

Chemical, physical and mechanical properties are closely interconnected, since the composition of the material determines all its other parameters. For example, refractory metals are the strongest. Properties that manifest themselves at rest are called physical, and under external influence - mechanical. There are also tables for classifying metals by density - the main component, manufacturing technology, melting point, and others.

Black metals

Materials belonging to this group have the same properties: impressive density, high melting point and dark gray color. To the first large group ferrous metals belong to the following:

Non-ferrous metals

The second largest group has a low density, good ductility, low melting point, predominant colors (white, yellow, red) and consists of the following metals:

Lungs - magnesium, strontium, cesium, calcium. In nature, they are found only in strong compounds. They are used to obtain light alloys for various purposes.
Noble. Examples of metals: platinum, gold, silver. They are highly resistant to corrosion.
Fusible - cadmium, mercury, tin, zinc. They have a low melting point, are involved in the production of various alloys.

The low strength of non-ferrous metals does not allow them to be used in their pure form, so they are used in industry in the form of alloys.

Copper and copper alloys

In its pure form, it has a pinkish-red color, low resistivity, low density, good thermal conductivity, excellent ductility, and corrosion resistance. It is widely used as a conductor of electric current. For technical needs, two types of copper alloys are used: brass (copper with zinc) and bronze (copper with aluminum, tin, nickel and other metals). Brass is used for the manufacture of sheets, tapes, pipes, wires, fittings, bushings, bearings. Flat and round springs, membranes, various fittings, worm gears are made from bronze.

Aluminum and alloys

This very light metal, having a silvery-white color, has a high corrosion resistance. It has good electrical conductivity and ductility. Due to its characteristics, it has found application in the food, light and electrical industries, as well as in aircraft construction. Aluminum alloys are very often used in mechanical engineering for the manufacture of critical parts.

Magnesium, titanium and their alloys

Magnesium is resistant to corrosion, but there is no lighter metal used for technical needs. Basically, it is added to alloys with other materials: zinc, manganese, aluminum, which are perfectly cut and are quite strong. The bodies of cameras, various instruments and engines are made from alloys with light metal magnesium. Titanium has found its application in the rocket industry, as well as mechanical engineering for the chemical industry. Titanium-containing alloys have a low density, excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. They lend themselves well to pressure treatment.

Anti-friction alloys

Such alloys are defined to increase the life of friction surfaces. They combine the following metal characteristics - good thermal conductivity, low melting point, microporosity, low coefficient of friction. Antifriction alloys include alloys based on lead, aluminum, copper or tin. The most used include:

babbitt. It is made from lead and tin. Used in the production of bearing shells that operate at high speeds and under shock loads;
aluminum alloys;
bronze;
cermet materials;
cast iron.

soft metals

According to the classification system of metals, these are gold, copper, silver, aluminum, but among the softest are cesium, sodium, potassium, rubidium and others. Gold is highly dispersed in nature. It is in sea water, the human body, and it can also be found in almost any piece of granite. In its pure form, gold is yellow with a hint of red, since the metal is soft - it can be scratched even with a fingernail. Under the influence of the environment, gold quickly collapses. This metal is indispensable for electrical contacts. Despite the fact that silver is twenty times more than gold, it is also rare.

Used to make tableware, jewelry. The light metal sodium has also become widespread and is in demand in almost every industry, including the chemical industry for the production of fertilizers and antiseptics.

The metal is mercury, although it is in a liquid state, therefore it is considered one of the softest in the world. This material is used in the defense and chemical industries, agriculture, electrical engineering.

hard metals

In nature, there are practically no hardest metals, so it is very difficult to extract them. In most cases they are found in fallen meteorites. Chromium belongs to the refractory metals and is the hardest of the purest on our planet, besides, it can be easily machined.

Tungsten is a chemical element. It is considered the hardest when compared with other metals. Has an extremely high melting point. Despite its hardness, any desired details can be forged from it. Due to its heat resistance and flexibility, it is the most suitable material for smelting small elements used in lighting fixtures. The refractory metal tungsten is the main substance of heavy alloys.

Metals in energy

Metals containing free electrons and positive ions are considered good conductors. This is a fairly popular material, characterized by plasticity, high electrical conductivity and the ability to easily donate electrons.

They are used to make power, radio frequency and special wires, parts for electrical installations, machines, and household appliances. The leaders in the use of metals for the manufacture of cable products are:

lead - for greater resistance to corrosion;
copper - for high electrical conductivity, ease of processing, resistance to corrosion and sufficient mechanical strength;
aluminum - for low weight, vibration resistance, strength and melting point.

Categories of ferrous secondary metals

There are certain requirements for ferrous metal waste. To send alloys to steel furnaces, certain processing operations will be required. Before submitting an application for the transportation of waste, you must familiarize yourself with the GOST of ferrous metals to determine its cost. Black secondary scrap is classified into steel and cast iron. If alloying additives are present in the composition, then it is classified as category "B". Category "A" includes carbon: steel, cast iron, additives.

Metallurgists and foundry workers, due to the limited primary raw material base, are showing an active interest in secondary raw materials. The use of ferrous scrap instead of metal ore is a resource and energy saving solution. Secondary ferrous metal is used as a converter smelting cooler.

The range of applications for metals is incredibly wide. Black and colored are used unlimitedly in the construction and machine industries. Not to do without non-ferrous metals and in the energy industry. Rare and precious are used to make jewelry. Both non-ferrous and ferrous metals are used in art and medicine. It is impossible to imagine a person's life without them, ranging from household items to unique instruments and apparatus.

When it comes to hard and durable metal, in his imagination a person immediately draws a warrior with a sword and in armor. Well, or with a saber, and always from Damascus steel. But steel, although strong, is not a pure metal; it is obtained by alloying iron with carbon and some other metal additives. And if necessary, the steel is subjected to processing to change its properties.

Lightweight, durable silver-white metal

Each of the additives, be it chromium, nickel or vanadium, is responsible for a certain quality. But titanium is added for strength - the hardest alloys are obtained.

According to one version, the metal got its name from the Titans, powerful and fearless children of the Earth goddess Gaia. But according to another version, the silvery substance is named after the fairy queen Titania.

Titanium was discovered by German and English chemists Gregor and Klaproth independently of each other with a difference of six years. It happened at the end of the 18th century. The substance immediately took its place in Mendeleev's periodic system. Three decades later, the first sample of metallic titanium was obtained. And for a long time, the metal was not used because of its fragility. Exactly before 1925 - it was then, after a series of experiments, pure titanium was obtained by the iodide method. The discovery was a real breakthrough. Titanium turned out to be technologically advanced, designers and engineers immediately drew attention to it. And now metal is obtained from ore, mainly by the magnesium-thermal method, which was proposed in 1940.

If you touch physical properties titanium, we can note its high specific strength, strength at high temperatures, low density and corrosion resistance. The mechanical strength of titanium is twice that of iron and six times that of aluminum. At high temperatures, where light alloys no longer work (based on magnesium and aluminum), titanium alloys come to the rescue. For example, an airplane at an altitude of 20 kilometers develops a speed three times higher than the speed of sound. And the temperature of its case is about 300 degrees Celsius. Only titanium alloy can withstand such loads.

In terms of prevalence in nature, the metal ranks tenth. Titanium is mined in South Africa, Russia, China, Ukraine, Japan and India. And this is not a complete list of countries.

Titanium is the strongest and lightest metal in the world

The list of possibilities for the use of metal is respected. These are the military industry, osteoprostheses in medicine, jewelry and sports products, boards mobile phones and much more. Designers of rocket, aircraft, and shipbuilding are constantly elevating titanium. Even the chemical industry did not leave metal unattended. Titanium is excellent for casting, because the contours during casting are accurate and have a smooth surface. The arrangement of atoms in titanium is amorphous. And it guarantees high tensile strength, toughness, excellent magnetic properties.

Hardest metals with the highest density

Osmium and iridium are also among the hardest metals. These are substances from the platinum group, they have the highest, almost identical, density.

Iridium was discovered in 1803. The metal was discovered by a chemist from England, Smithson Tennat, during the study of natural platinum from South America. By the way, from the ancient Greek "iridium" is translated as "rainbow".

Most solid metal It is quite difficult to get, because it is almost non-existent in nature. And often the metal is found in meteorites that have fallen to the ground. According to scientists, the content of iridium on our planet should be much higher. But due to the properties of the metal - siderophilicity - it is located at the very depths of the earth's interior.

Iridium is quite difficult to process both thermally and chemically. The metal does not react with acids, even combinations of acids at temperatures below 100 degrees. At the same time, the substance is subject to oxidation processes in aqua regia (this is a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids).

Interest as a source electrical energy, represents the iridium isotope 193 m 2. Since the half-life of the metal is 241 years. Iridium has found wide application in paleontology and industry. It is used in the manufacture of nibs for pens and the determination of the age of different layers of the earth.

But osmium was discovered a year later than iridium. This hard metal was found in chemical composition a precipitate of platinum that has been dissolved in aqua regia. And the name "osmium" came from the ancient Greek word for "smell". The metal is not subject to mechanical stress. At the same time, one liter of osmium is several times heavier than ten liters of water. However, this property is still unused.

Osmium is mined in American and Russian mines. Its deposit is also rich in South Africa. Quite often, the metal is found in iron meteorites. For specialists, osmium-187 is of interest, which is exported only from Kazakhstan. It is used to determine the age of meteorites. It is worth noting that just one gram of the isotope costs 10 thousand dollars.

Well, they use osmium in industry. And not in its pure form, but in the form of a hard alloy with tungsten. Produced from the substance of incandescent lamps. Osmium is a catalyst in the manufacture of ammonia. Rarely, cutting parts are made of metal for the needs of surgery.

The hardest pure metal

The hardest of the purest metals on the planet is chromium. It is highly machinable. The bluish-white metal was discovered in 1766 in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg. The mineral then received the name "Siberian red lead". Its modern name is crocoite. A few years after the discovery, namely, in 1797, the French chemist Vauquelin isolated a new metal from the metal, already refractory. Experts today believe that the resulting substance is chromium carbide.

The name of this element is derived from the Greek "color", because the metal itself is famous for the variety of colors of its compounds. Chromium is quite easy to find in nature, it is common. You can find metal in South Africa, which ranks first in terms of production, as well as in Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Russia and Madagascar. There are deposits in Turkey, Armenia, India, Brazil and the Philippines. Specialists especially appreciate some chromium compounds - these are chromium iron ore and crocoite.

The hardest metal in the world is tungsten

Tungsten is a chemical element, the hardest, if we consider it along with other metals. Its melting point is unusually high, only carbon is higher, but it is not a metallic element.

But the natural hardness of tungsten at the same time does not deprive it of flexibility and pliability, which allows forging any necessary details from it. It is its flexibility and heat resistance that makes tungsten an ideal material for smelting small parts of lighting fixtures and TV parts, for example.

Tungsten is also used in more serious areas, for example, weapons manufacturing - for the manufacture of counterweights and artillery shells. This tungsten owes its high density, which makes it the main substance of heavy alloys. The density of tungsten is close in value to gold - only a few tenths make up the difference.

On the site, you can read which metals are the softest, how they are used, and what they are made of.
Subscribe to our channel in Yandex.Zen

The first metal that mankind began to use for economic purposes was copper: easy to process, it is found in nature quite often, so it is not surprising that it served as the material for the first metal knives and axes. A little later, people discovered that by adding tin to copper, you can get a much stronger alloy - bronze. And when they mastered iron, it turned out that in its pure form it is not much stronger than copper, but in combination with carbon it acquires much better strength qualities. Medieval alchemists, in addition to searching for the philosopher's stone, also experimented with alloys, trying to determine which is the hardest metal in the world, but all experiments confirmed that alloys are stronger than pure metal, whatever it may be. And how is it today?

The hardest

All the most durable "pure" metals were discovered by man rather late. The reason is simple: they are much rarer than the usual iron or copper. There are several methods for determining the hardness of materials: according to Mohs, according to Vickers, according to Brinell and Rockwell, the data of which differ slightly. On the Mohs scale, for example, iron has a value of only 4, and the highest hardness of diamond is 10. And a dozen metals, whose hardness is 5 units or more, looks like this:

iridium - 5;
ruthenium - 5;
tantalum - 5;
technetium - 5;
chromium - 5;
beryllium - 5.5;
osmium - 5.5;
rhenium - 5.5;
tungsten - 6;
uranium - 6.

Most of this "magnificent dozen" are extremely rare in nature (for example, the annual production of ruthenium in the world is about 18 tons, and rhenium - about 40 tons) or have radioactivity that makes it difficult to use them in everyday life. And they all have a very significant cost, with the possible exception of chromium. It is the high hardness and relatively low price of this metal that made it popular in the manufacture of strong alloys.

Use of the hardest metals

Due to the fact that most of the hardest metals are very rare in nature, their strength qualities remain unclaimed or demanded in an extremely limited way, for example, to cover the nodes and parts of mechanisms that are subjected to the greatest load. But to use additives from rhenium or ruthenium in the manufacture of tool steel or armor, you see, is stupid. These metals are simply not enough for everything. Therefore, chromium turned out to be very popular. It is the most important alloying additive that improves both the strength and corrosion resistance of alloys.

Some of the hard metals are used in very small quantities in medicine, in the creation of space technology, as catalysts, and in some other areas. In these cases, it was not their hardness that was in demand, but other accompanying qualities. Tungsten, for example, as the most refractory metal on the planet (melting point +3422 Celsius), has found application in the creation of filaments for lighting fixtures. It is added in small amounts to alloys that must withstand high temperature for a long time - for example, in the metallurgical industry.

Uranus

Uranium, like tungsten, is the hardest metal on Earth, but uranium is much more common on our planet, so it has found much wider use. And its radioactivity did not interfere with this. Most known use uranium - as "fuel" in nuclear power plants. In addition, it is used in geology to determine the age rocks and in the chemical industry.

The strength properties and high specific gravity of uranium (it is 19 times heavier than water) were useful in the creation of armor-piercing ammunition. In this case, not pure metal is used, but its depleted variety, almost entirely consisting of the weakly radioactive isotope uranium-238. Heavy cores made of such metal perfectly penetrate even well-armored targets. How much residual effects of the use of such ammunition harm environment and man, is not yet known for certain, since too little statistical material has been accumulated on this issue.

When wondering about the most durable metal in the world, you probably imagine a warrior with a huge sword that cuts everything in its path. But for the manufacture of weapons, steel is most often used. Firstly, it is not a metal, but an alloy of iron and carbon, and secondly, it is far from the most durable on earth. The strongest metal on earth is titanium.

The exact origin of the name of this substance is not known. Some believe that it was named after Titania, a fairy from Germanic mythology. The main argument of supporters of this point of view is the density of titanium - the metal is not only very strong, but also very light. Another point of view is based on the consonance of the name of the metal and the name of the mighty gods - the Titans. Independently of each other, the English Gregor and the German Klaptor discovered titanium at the end of the 17th century. Immediately after the discovery of the metal, it was added to the periodic table. There it can be found at number 22.

Titanium is the strongest metal in the world

At first, people had problems using titanium, as it was very (paradoxically) brittle. This was due to the fact that pure titanium, that very strong metal, could only be isolated in 1925. Before that, he came across only in natural alloys, which gave him fragility. Now it is used to create armor, medical prostheses and in jewelry.

More recently, scientists from California said that they managed to create the most durable alloy in the world. Moreover, this alloy may be the most durable substance on earth. It consists of palladium and a small amount of silver and other metals (scientists have not yet disclosed the exact composition). Main Feature new alloy is the absence of a crystal lattice in its classical form. In it, the molecules are not crystallized, but are sandwiched in a glassy liquid.

One of the creators of the alloy, Marios Demitru, claims that in a year such a metal alloy can be used in medical implants and as car parts. But scientists have yet to solve the main problem of the new alloy - the high cost. According to Marios Demitru, his team has already begun research that will reduce the cost of the alloy by more than 80%.

$mob_info$