What is Vanadium?
Vanadium, Often Used as an Alloy of Steel
Vanadium is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable metal used primarily as an alloy for strengthening steel.
This metallic chemical element was discovered in 1801 by Spanish-Mexican scientist Andrés Manuel del Río. Having prepared a variety of compounds, he observed different colours so named vanadium 'panchromium' from the Greek for 'all colours'.
At some later point, while the compounds were being heated, he noted they turned red. He then changed the name to 'erythronium' from the Greek for 'red'.
Having sent this newly discovered chemical element for further analysis, the sample was mistakenly identified as chromium. Twenty-seven years later, it was rediscovered by Swedish Professor Nils Gabriel Sefström, who named it vanadium, after Vanadis, the Scandinavian goddess of love and beauty.
Subsequent analysis confirmed it was the same element first discovered by Andrés Manuel del Río.
Vanadium reacts with a variety of other elements. The chemical compounds it forms often exhibit beautiful colours. Emerald gets its green colour from trace amounts of chromium and vanadium.
Most ores from which vanadium is extracted come from South Africa, Russia, and China. It can be found in about sixty-five different minerals. Vanadium does not occur as a native element, which means it can only be found when combined with other elements.
Native elements are minerals made up of a single chemical element. Examples include copper, gold, sulphur, and carbon.
Vanadium is a malleable (can be shaped without breaking), ductile (can be drawn out into the shape of a wire) and corrosion-resistant metal. These properties make it ideal as an alloy.
Adding the smallest amount of vanadium to steel, which is an alloy of iron, improves strength considerably.
Vanadium doesn't lose hardness when exposed to high temperatures, so can also be used in machinery that generates heat.
Article Photos
Pop-up photos: Copper, gold - Courtesy of Stan Celestian. Sulphur - Courtesy of Ron Wolf.
