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Iridium metal7/12/2023 ![]() Iridium first found a use in the nibs of fountain pens, due to its extreme hardness. It is still produced today from platinum ore and as a by-product of nickel mining. Obtaining pure samples of iridium remained impossible, however, due to its high melting point, until 1842 when an American chemist called Hare used a hydrogen/oxygen flame to melt a small sample, allowing it to be separated from dross and other impurities. Collet-Descotiles upon whose research Tennant also acted. Much of the credit for the discovery should also go to Frenchmen L.N. In 1804, Tennant isolated iridium (and osmium) from the residues and, due to its colourful compounds, named it after the Latin for rainbow, "iridis". ![]() Having discovered platinum and palladium, William Hyde Wollaston handed over the remaining residues of ore to his commercial partner Smithson Tennant, a fellow Cambridge graduate with whom he had forged a partnership in 1800. Tensile strength 112 (annealed condition kg/mm2) History PropertiesĮlectrical conductivity* 0.197 106 cm-1 Ohm-1Ĭhemical element of Group VIII (Mendeleev) It also has industrial applications such as the production of chlorine and caustic soda. Iridium can be found in health technology combating cancer, Parkinson's disease, heart conditions and even deafness and blindness.Ī shiny, oxidation-resistant metal, iridium also adds to the brilliance and durability of jewellery. Its biological compatibility is what we owe most to iridium as this enables it to be used in a range of medical and surgical applications. It is white with a yellowish hue.Īlthough brittle, it is extremely hard (over four times that of platinum itself) and with its high melting point, temperature stability and corrosion resistance, is used in high-temperature equipment such as the crucibles used to grow crystals for laser technology. The rarest of the PGMs, iridium is second only to osmium as the densest element and is the most corrosion resistant known.
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