Uses and Substitutes of antimony
 

Uses and Substitutes of antimony
Source:AntimonyNet Author:wm update:2007-07-18

Uses

The most important use of antimony in the United States is in chemicals used to impregnate plastics, textiles, rubber, and other materials as a flame retardant ?that is, a form of fireproofing. This is required by federal law for certain childrens' clothing. Over half the annual U.S. antimony consumption is for the manufacture of flame retardants.

A portion of U.S. consumption is in antimony alloys. Antimony is mixed (that is, alloyed) with other metals, such as lead, to make the lead harder and stronger for use in lead-acid batteries. On the other hand, some alloys such as Babbitt Metal (an alloy of antimony, tin, copper, and sometimes lead) are useful as machine bearings because they are soft and slippery. Antimony is also alloyed with tin to make pewter items such as plates, pitchers and cups, used mostly for decoration. One use of antimony, which is declining, is to make type metal for printing newspapers and magazines. Antimony is one of very few substances (bismuth and water are two others) which expands when it cools and freezes. Antimony-bearing type metal thus fills every corner of a mold used to prepare sharp type for printing. With the advent of computer printing, this use has greatly decreased.

Antimony is also used for pigments in plastics, paints, rubber, and for a wide variety of minor uses, including medicines, fireworks, and others. Antimony oxide is a brilliant yellow color, accounting for much of the pigment use.

A tiny amount of highly purified antimony metal is used in the computer industry to make semiconductors. To be useful in this application, antimony has to be 99.999% pure!

Substitutes

Antimony could be replaced by chromium, tin, zinc, and titanium compounds in the paint industry. Cadmium, sulfur, copper, and calcium can be used to harden lead. A number of organic compounds can be used as fire retardants. Recycling, mining, and smelter production will meet the demand for antimony and antimony compounds for many decades to come.