Gadolinium
Name: Gadolinium
Symbol: Gd
Atomic Number: 64
Mass fraction of the earth’s shell: 5,9 ppm
Melting Point: 1312 °C
Boiling Point: 3250 °C
Electrical Conductivity: 0,736 · 106 A·V−1·m−1
Name: Gadolinium
Symbol: Gd
Atomic Number: 64
Mass fraction of the earth’s shell: 5,9 ppm
Melting Point: 1312 °C
Boiling Point: 3250 °C
Electrical Conductivity: 0,736 · 106 A·V−1·m−1
HISTORY
While investigating the mineral samarskite in 1880, the Swiss Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac came across a new oxide. He named the new earth after the Finnish chemist Gadolin, who discovered the mineral gadolinite in 1794.
Gadolinium was first isolated and presented in pure form in 1886 by Lecoq de Boisbaudran. It was not until 1935 that Georges Urbain succeeded in preparing the metal.
CHARACTERISTICS & EXTRACTION
Gadolinium is a heavy metal that shines silvery-white, is soft, and easily malleable. It exists in two allotropic modifications: α-gadolinium and β-gadolinium. Gadolinium is base, strongly electropositive, and paramagnetic. It is stable in dry air, while a scale-like oxide layer forms in moist air. In acids, the element shows signs of dissolution.
Gadolinium hardly occurs in nature. The first step in its production is the enrichment and digestion of the ores. Then the mixture is converted into chlorides or fluorides and separated. By reducing the anhydrous halides with calcium, the metal is produced in a vacuum.
It is used as an alloying metal for iron and chromium alloys, for high-temperature alloys, electronic components, magnets, and superconductors.
Gadolinium is used in many areas. Neutron radiography also works with gadolinium. Contrast media containing gadolinium also play an important role in oncological imaging for the diagnosis of tumours.
