How Is Cobalt Used Commercially?
Cobalt is a metal with many uses in commerce, industry and the military. Cobalt is used to make super-hard metal alloys, rechargeable batteries, powerful magnets, beautiful blue dyes and pigments, and it even treats cancer. It is so useful that the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) says the U.S. government keeps 1,200 tons of refined cobalt metal in a reserve stockpile in case foreign sources of supply are cut off.
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What is Cobalt?
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Elemental cobalt is a hard, brittle silver-gray metal resembling nickel or iron in color. The chemistry division of the Los Alamos National Laboratory says cobalt's atomic number is 27, atomic weight 58.93 and its chemical symbol is Co. Cobalt melts at 1,495 degrees C. This element was isolated and named in 1735 by the Swedish chemist Georg Brandt.
Where Does it Come From?
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Cobalt is produced as a byproduct from refining copper, nickel, silver, nickel, lead and iron ores, but it also occurs in the minerals cobalite, smaltite and erythrite, says the Los Alamos Lab. Major cobalt deposits are located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Canada, Russia, Morocco and Zaire, but commercial production occurs in at least 12 other nations. "The Journal of Metallurgy" notes that 55,000 tons of cobalt are produced worldwide each year, worth $1 billion to $3 billion, depending on the market.
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Cobalt Makes Superalloys
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Cobalt is mixed with iron, nickel, tungsten and other elemental metals to form super-strong, super-hard alloys used to make jet turbine blades for warplanes and airliners, wear-resistant cutting bits for machine tools, precision stamping dies, artificial hip and knee joints, and in other applications where wear resistance is a top priority. The Los Alamos Lab said cobalt also is used in alloys formed into extremely strong permanent magnets known as Alnico magnets.
Rechargeable Battery Ingredient
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Cobalt is an ingredient in the electrodes used in the lithium-ion, nickel-cadmium and nickel-metal-hydride rechargeable batteries that power portable electronic devices and hybrid electric vehicles. The USGS said cobalt consumption by the world's rechargeable-battery makers is about equal to consumption for super alloys.
Radioactive Cobalt is Valuable
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Cobalt-60, a man-made radioactive cobalt isotope with a half-life of little more than five years, is a strong gamma radiation source for industrial radiography. Cobalt-60 acts like a super X-ray for inspecting quality of welds and castings. Its radiation also sterilizes medical supplies and foodstuffs. In small amounts, says the Los Alamos Lab, cobalt-60 is used in medicine for radioactive tracers and in cancer radiation therapy. But cobalt also could be built into nuclear weapons to create maximum deadly radioactive fallout.
Other Cobalt Uses
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Cobalt compounds make beautiful blue dyes and pigments that color glass, porcelain, ceramic tiles, pottery and enamels. The USGS said cobalt is also used in electroplating to put a wear-resistant, oxidation-resistant coating on other materials. Cobalt makes catalysts that help remove sulfur from crude oil. Cobalt is an essential trace element in human and animal nutrition and it's a key constituent of Vitamin B12.
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References
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