Rare Earth Alloys

Date 11-19-2007 13:37

Hello,
This time im looking for info on rare earth metals, specificly ones like Holmium and Erbium. Im wondering if theres any way to figure out if diffrent rare earths would alloy together without getting the metals and trying it. I realize its not exactly welding... I figure someone might be able to point me to where I can info on what im looking for.
Thanks again,
Curious Clif

By 803056

Date 11-19-2007 15:22

In general, those metals that have similar atomic weights and the same unit cell crystalline structure will alloy easily.

Best regards - Al

By CWI555

Date 11-19-2007 17:25

http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/67.html $10.00 per gram $1000 kg
http://periodic.lanl.gov/elements/68.html $00.65 per gram $650 kg

Think about that in comparison to steel.

Now you have my curiousity up. These elements so happen to be key elements in advanced laser, magnetic, and nuclear applications, further; they are very expensive, especially the holmium, and are therefore not typically part of a hobby.
Care to share for what purpose are you inquiring about them??

Regards,
Gerald

By Plasma-Brain (**)

Date 11-19-2007 20:12

Pretty much im looking into the magnetic aspects of some of the lanthanide metals. More specificly: Neodynium , Samarium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Holmium and Erbium.
I figure seperatly, those metals all seem to have some sort of magnetic or superconductive property, so what happens if you alloy them?
Mabey by mixing 2 or more together you could end up with a superconductor that works with liquid C02 instead of liquid helium, or something to that effect.
I guess you could call it a hobby, or just having a little bit of knowlage and too much time to think about it.

thanks for the feed back,
Clif

By CWI555

Date 11-20-2007 05:17

The record stands at 138K at normal pressure. liquid CO2 is at 195K, cuprate-perovskite ceramic was the winner. If you can beat 138K substantially you'll hit the nobel prize. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-temperature_superconductor

One thing the article doesn't touch on is magnetic quenching. Refer to earlier posted links.

By Plasma-Brain (**)

Date 11-20-2007 15:12

Thank you for the info, now I have more food for thought to play with.
Ill be sure to let you all know how it works out. Its expensive I know, but I olny need a few grams to play with for now.

-Clif