Antimony occurs in nature primarily in the mineral stibnite, and also in several other ores, such as valentinite, senarmontite, cervantite, kermasite, livingstonite, and jamisonite. It is also found in lead scraps from batteries.
Antimony alloys have many commercial applications. The metal makes its alloys hard and stiff and imparts resistance to corrosion. Such alloys are used in battery grids and parts, tank linings, pipes and pumps. The lead plates in the lead storage batteries constitute 94% lead and 6% antimony. Babbit metal, an alloy of antimony, tin, and copper is used to make antifriction machine bearings. Alloys made from very high purity grade antimony with indium, gallium and bismuth are used as infrared detectors, diodes, hall effect devices and thermoelectric coolers.
