Ytterbium is a silvery, soft, malleable, and ductile metal with a lustrous metallic shine.It is slightly reactive in air or water at room temperatures. Ytterbium is located next to lastof the rare-earths in the lanthanide series. It slowly oxidizes as it reacts with oxygen in theatmosphere, forming a somewhat duller coating. Ytterbium was the first rare-earth to bediscovered by Carl Gustof Mosander in 1843. More of it exists in the Earth’s crust than oncewas believed.
It was often confused with other rare-earths and was known by two other names, aldebaraniumand cassiopeium. Ytterbium’s melting point is 819°C, its boiling point is 1,196°C, andits density is 6.9654g/cm
3.
There are a total of 37 isotopes of ytterbium. Seven of these are stable, andthey make up all of the natural ytterbium found on Earth. One of these isotopes (Yb-176) has such a long half-life (1.6×10+17years) that it contributes 12.76% of the naturalytterbium existing on Earth, and thus it is considered stable. All the other 30 isotopes areartificially radioactive and produced by nuclear fission in nuclear reactors with half-livesranging from a fraction of a second to 32 days.
Ytterbium is named for the Ytterby quarry located in Sweden.
Ytterbium is the 45th most abundant element, and it ranks 10th in abundance (2.7 ppm)among the 17 rare-earths found in the Earth’s crust.
It is found in ores along with other rare-earths that were first found in the Ytterby quarryof Sweden. These ores are xenotime, euxenite, gadolinite, and monazite. Monazite river sand is the main source of ytterbium, which is found in India and Brazil and the beaches of Florida.Ytterbium is also found as a decay product of the fission reaction in nuclear reactors.
In the past there was some confusion about the rare-earths because they are not really earthsat all, but rather binary compounds of oxides of metals. Compounding the confusion was thefact that they were always found combined with several other rare-earths.
The salts of ytterbium are paramagnetic, which exhibit weaker magnetic fields than do ironmagnets.
Marignac in 1878 discovered a new component,
which he called ytterbia, in the Earth then known as erbia. In
1907, Urbain separated ytterbia into two components, which
he called neoytterbia and lutecia. The elements in these earths
are now known as ytterbium and lutetium, respectively. These
elements are identical with aldebaranium and cassiopeium,
discovered independently and at about the same time by von
Welsbach. Ytterbium occurs along with other rare earths in a
number of rare minerals. It is commercially recovered principally
from monazite sand, which contains about 0.03%. Ion-exchange
and solvent extraction techniques developed in recent
years have greatly simplified the separation of the rare earths
from one another. The element was first prepared by Klemm
and Bonner in 1937 by reducing ytterbium trichloride with
potassium. Their metal was mixed, however, with KCl. Daane,
Dennison, and Spedding prepared a much purer form in 1953
from which the chemical and physical properties of the element
could be determined. Ytterbium has a bright silvery luster, is
soft, malleable, and quite ductile. While the element is fairly
stable, it should be kept in closed containers to protect it from
air and moisture. Ytterbium is readily attacked and dissolved by
dilute and concentrated mineral acids and reacts slowly with
water. Ytterbium has three allotropic forms with transformation
points at –13° and 795°C. The beta form is a room-temperature,
face-centered, cubic modification, while the high-temperature
gamma form is a body-centered cubic form. Another bodycentered
cubic phase has recently been found to be stable at
high pressures at room temperatures. The beta form ordinarily
has metallic-type conductivity, but becomes a semiconductor
when the pressure is increased above 16,000 atm. The electrical resistance increases tenfold as the pressure is increased to
39,000 atm and drops to about 80% of its standard temperature-
pressure resistivity at a pressure of 40,000 atm. Natural ytterbium
is a mixture of seven stable isotopes. Twenty-six other
unstable isotopes and isomers are known. Ytterbium metal has
possible use in improving the grain refinement, strength, and
other mechanical properties of stainless steel. One isotope is
reported to have been used as a radiation source as a substitute
for a portable X-ray machine where electricity is unavailable.
Few other uses have been found. Ytterbium metal is available
with a purity of about 99.9% for about $10/g. Ytterbium has a
low acute toxicity rating.
There is not much commercial use for ytterbium. Radioactive ytterbium can be used for asmall portable X-ray source and as an alloy to make special types of strong steel. The oxides ofytterbium are used to make lasers and some synthetic gemstones.
Ytterbium is being applied to numerous fiber amplifier and fiber optic technologies and in various lasing applications.
Ytterbium metal increases its electrical resistance when subjected to very high stresses. This property is used in stress gauges for monitoring ground deformations from earthquakes and nuclear explosions.
Ytterbium can also be used as a dopant to help improve the grain refinement, strength, and other mechanical properties of stainless steel. Some Ytterbium alloys have rarely been used in dentistry.
It is also used as in thermal barrier system bond coatings on nickel, iron and other transitional metal alloy substrates.
Ytterbium Metal, is being applied in improving the grain refinement, strength, and other mechanical properties of stainless steel and alloys. The 169Yb has been used as a radiation source in portable X-ray machines.169Yb is also used in nuclear medicine. Ytterbium can also be used as a dopant to help improve the grain refinement, strength, and other mechanical properties of stainless steel. Some ytterbium alloys have rarely been used in dentistry.
Ytterbium Metal can be further processed to various shapes of ingots, pieces, wires, foils, slabs, rods, discs and powder.
Used for phosphors, ceramic capacitors, ferrite devices, pulsed lasers and catalysts. Use in improving the strength and mechanical properties of stainless steel. Used in Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) processes, including thermal and electron-beam (e-beam) evaporation, for the preparation of thin films.
ytterbium: Symbol Yb. A silverymetallic element belonging to thelanthanoids; a.n. 70; r.a.m. 173.04;r.d. 6.965 (20°C); m.p. 819°C; b.p.1194°C. It occurs in gadolinite, monazite,and xenotime. There are sevennatural isotopes and ten artificial isotopesare known. It is used in certainsteels. The element was discoveredby Jean de Marignac (1817–94) in1878.
A metallic element. A rare-earth metal of yttrium
subgroup, atomic number 70, aw 173.04, valence of
2, 3; exists in α and β forms, the latter being semiconductive
at pressures above 16,000 atm. There
are seven natural isotopes.
A soft malleable
silvery element having two allotropes and
belonging to the lanthanoid series of metals.
It occurs in association with other lanthanoids.
Ytterbium has been used to
improve the mechanical properties of steel.
Symbol: Yb; m.p. 824°C; b.p. 1193°C;
r.d. 6.965 (20°C); p.n. 70; r.a.m. 173.04.
Ytterbium dust and powder can explode and may be toxic if inhaled. The compound.ytterbium arsenate is a poison.
As a lanthanon it maj7
have an anticoagulant action on blood.
Questionable carcinogen with experimental
tumorigenic data. Flammable in the form of
dust when reacted with air, halogens. See
also LANTHANUM and RARE EARTHS.
