Why is beryllium important?

Answer 1

The uses of beryllium are numerous, I will attempt to classify them by type:

Mechanical

* Due to its stiffness, light weight, and dimensional stability over a wide temperature range, Beryllium metal is used in the defense and aerospace industries as light-weight structural materials in high-speed aircraft, missiles, space vehicles, and communication satellites. For example, many high-quality liquid fueled rockets use nozzles of pure Beryllium, an example being the Saturn V. * Beryllium is used as an alloying agent in the production of beryllium copper, which contains up to 2.5% beryllium. Beryllium-copper alloys are used in a wide variety of applications because of their combination of high electrical and thermal conductivity, high strength and hardness, nonmagnetic properties, along with good corrosion and fatigue resistance. These applications include the making of spot-welding electrodes, springs, non-sparking tools and electrical contacts. * Beryllium was also used in Jason pistols which were used to strip paint from the hulls of ships. In this case, beryllium was alloyed to copper and used as a hardening agent. * Many high-energy particle physics collision experiments such as the Large Hadron Collider, the Tevatron, the SLAC and others contain beam pipes made of beryllium. The low density allows collision products to reach the surrounding detectors without significant interaction, the stiffness allows a powerful vacuum to be produced within the pipe to minimize interaction with gases, its thermal stability allows it to function correctly at temperatures of only a few Kelvin, and its diamagnetic nature keeps it from interfering with the complex multipole magnet systems used to steer and focus the particle beams. * Beryllium is used in gyroscopes, computer equipment, watch springs and instruments where light-weight, rigidity and dimensional stability are needed. * The James Webb Space Telescope will have 18 hexagonal beryllium sections for its mirrors. Because JWST will face a temperature of −240 degrees Celsius (33 kelvins), the mirror is made of beryllium, capable of handling extreme cold better than glass. Beryllium contracts and deforms less than glass - and remains more uniform - in such temperatures. For the same reason, the optics of the Spitzer Space Telescope are entirely built of beryllium metal.

Magnetic

* Due to its non-magnetic properties, Beryllium-based tools are often used by military naval EOD-personnel when working on or around sea-mines, as these often have fuses that detonate on direct magnetic contact or when influenced by a magnetic field. * Beryllium-based tools are use for maintenance and construction close to a MRI scanner. Magnetic tools would be pulled towards the strong magnetic field of the scanner. Apart from being difficult to remove once magnetic items are stuck in the scanner, the missile-effect can have dangerous consequences. * In the telecommunications industry, tools made of beryllium are used to tune the highly magnetic klystrons used for high power microwave applications.

Radiation

* Thin sheets of beryllium foil are used as windows in X-ray detectors to filter out visible light and allow only X-rays to be detected. * Sheets of beryllium ranging from 3 millimetres (0.12 in) thick down to 25 micrometres (0.00098 in) thick are used as the output window in x-ray tubes, allowing x-rays to leave the tube while keeping a vacuum on the inside of the tube. * In the field of X-ray lithography beryllium is used for the reproduction of microscopic integrated circuits. * Because of its low atomic number beryllium is almost transparent to energetic electrically charged particles. Therefore it is used to build the beam pipe around the collision region in collider particle physics experiments. Notably all four main detector experiments at the Large Hadron Collider accelerator (ALICE, ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) use a beryllium beam-pipe. * In scientific setups for various X-ray emission studies (e.g., Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) the sample holder is usually made of beryllium because its emitted X-rays have much lower energies (~100 eV) than X-rays from most studied materials.

Nuclear

* Beryllium is used in nuclear weapon designs as the outer layer of the pit of the primary stage, surrounding the fissile material. It is a good pusher for implosion, and a very good neutron reflector, as in Beryllium moderated reactors. * Beryllium is sometimes used in neutron sources, in which the beryllium is mixed with an alpha emitter such as 210Po, 226Ra, 239Pu or 241Am. * Beryllium is used in the Joint European Torus fusion research facility and will be used in ITER, to condition the plasma facing components. * Beryllium has also been proposed as a cladding material for nuclear fuel, due to its combination of mechanical, chemical, and nuclear properties.

Acoustics

* Beryllium's characteristics (low weight and high rigidity) make it useful as a material for high-frequency drivers. Until recently, most beryllium tweeters used an alloy of beryllium and other metals due to beryllium's high cost and difficulty to form. These challenges, coupled with the high performance of beryllium, caused some manufacturers to falsely claim using pure beryllium. Some high end audio companies manufacture pure beryllium tweeters or speakers using these tweeters. Because beryllium is many times more expensive than titanium, hard to shape due to its brittle nature, and potentially toxic when mishandled, these tweeters are limited to high-end and PA applications.

Electronic

* Beryllium is an effective p-type dopant in III-V compound semiconductors. It is widely used in materials such as GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaAs, and InAlAs grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). * Beryllium oxide is useful for many applications that require the combined properties of an electrical insulator an excellent heat conductor, with high strength and hardness, with a very high melting point. Beryllium oxide is frequently used as an insulator base plate in high-power transistors in RF transmitters for telecommunications. Beryllium oxide is also being studied for use in increasing the thermal conductivity of uranium dioxide nuclear fuel pellets. * Beryllium compounds were once used in fluorescent lighting tubes, but this use was discontinued because of berylliosis in the workers manufacturing the tubes.

Answer 2

It is used as components for missiles and rockets. Windows for X-ray tubes, brazing material for zirconium alloys, beryllium bronzes, beryllium alloys for welding, nuclear applications as reflector, beryllium-copper alloys for Transformers, Ra-Be source of neutrons, alloys for aviation industry, alloys for missiles, alloy for watches components, etc. Beryllium oxide: electric insulator but thermal conductor, ceramics for high temperatures, nuclear applications as neutrons reflector, etc.

Answer 3

Beryllium is used as components for missiles and rockets. Windows for X-ray tubes, brazing material for zirconium alloys, beryllium bronzes, beryllium alloys for welding, nuclear applications as reflector, beryllium-copper alloys for transformers and electrotechnical uses, Ra (Am, Pu, Po)-Be source of neutrons, alloys for aviation industry, alloys for missiles, alloy for watches components (glucydur), nuclear weapons and many other uses. Beryllium oxide: electric insulator but thermal conductor, ceramics for high temperatures, nuclear applications as neutrons reflector, etc. Beryllium fluoride was used in the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment. Beryllium nitride is an important ceramic. Beryllium chloride is a catalyst in organic chemistry. Beryllium phosphide is a semiconductor. Beryllium hydride is a component of some rocket fuels. Emerald and aquamarine are natural gemstones with beryllium.

Answer 4

to help other

Answer 5

all elements are important