Pure tantalum - or maybe an alloy? Heeger Materials tell you.

We prepare our tantalum to perform perfectly in every application. We can determine the following properties through the addition of various alloys:

• Physical properties (e.g. melting point, vapor pressure, density, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, heat capacity)
• Mechanical properties (e.g. strength, fracture behavior, ductility)
• Chemical properties (e.g. corrosion resistance)
• Workability (e.g. machining, formability, weldability)
• Structure and recrystallization properties (e.g. recrystallization temperature, proneness to embrittlement, aging effects, grain size)

And there's more: By using our own customized manufacturing processes, we can modulate various other properties of tantalum across a wide range of values. The result: Two different tantalum production variants and alloys characterized by different properties which precisely meet the requirements of the intended application.

Sintered quality tantalum

Pure sintered quality tantalum and pure melted quality tantalum share the following properties:

• High melting point of 2 996 °C
• Excellent cold ductility
• Recrystallization between 900 °C and 1 450 °C (depending on the level of deformation and purity)
• Outstanding resistance against aqueous solutions and metal melts
• Superconductivity
• High level of biocompatibility

When particularly tough jobs beckon, our sintered quality tantalum is the solution: Due to the powder metallurgical production process we employ, sintered quality tantalum is particularly fine-grained and pure. As a result, the material is very easy to work with and excels due to its excellent surface quality and robust mechanical properties.

Capacitor quality tantalum

For use in capacitors, we recommend our capacitor quality tantalum variant with particularly high surface quality. This type of tantalum is used in wire form in tantalum capacitors. High capacitance, low leakage currents and low resistances can only be guaranteed using wires that are free of surface defects and impurities.

Melted quality tantalum

Sometimes the very best isn't needed. Melted quality tantalum is usually more economical to produce than sintered quality tantalum and provides sufficient quality for many applications. However, the material is neither as fine nor as homogeneous as-sintered quality tantalum.

Tantalum Tungsten alloy

Tantalum-Tungsten (TaW) excels due to its good mechanical properties and excellent corrosion resistance. We add between 2.5 and 10 percent by weight of tungsten to pure tantalum. Although the resulting alloy is up to 1.4 times stronger than pure tantalum, it remains easy to work at temperatures of up to 1 600 °C. Our Tantalum tungsten alloy (Ta2.5W, Ta10W) is therefore especially well suited for the heat exchangers and heating elements used in the chemical equipment construction field.

• Ta2.5W: 97.5% Tantalum; 2.5% Tungsten

This alloy is most useful in applications when low-temperature strength is important as well as high corrosion resistance and good formability. This alloy is also higher in strength than pure Tantalum while maintaining good fabrication characteristics.

•  Ta10W: 90% Tantalum; 10% Tungsten

This alloy may be considered in high temperature applications up to 4500 degrees F. and high strength in a corrosive environment is required. This alloy has roughly twice the tensile strength of pure Tantalum, yet retains Tantalum’s corrosion resistance and most of pure Tantalum’s ductility.