property of hafnium

 Hafnium was first discovered in Copenhagen and was named after the Latin name for the city – Hafinia.

Hafnium is a very ductile metal with a brilliant silver lustre. It was predicted to be found in zirconium minerals by Dmitri  Mendeleev in 1869. It was discovered in 1923 by D.Coster and G. von Hevesey in zircon using XRF Spectroscopy. Zirconium minerals contain between 1 – 5% Hafnium. Zirconium  and Hafnium have very similar properties and are very difficult to separate. Most Hafnium metal is produced today by using the Kroll Process – by reducing Hafnium tetrachloride with magnesium or sodium, in order to produce pure Zirconium.

Hafnium is twice as dense as Zirconium and has excellent mechanical properties and is extremely corrosion resistant. It reacts in air to form a protective film, making it resistant to attack by acids or alkalis.

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