Beryllium, Lithium and Magnesium and Their Alloys, with Reference to the Possibility of Their Manufacture in India
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BERYLLIUM, LITHIUM AND MAGNESIUM AND THEIR ALLOYS, WITH REFERENCE TO THE POSSIBILITY OF THEIR MANUFACTURE IN INDIA K. K. DAR Mining Geologist , Atomic Energy Commission, Bombay Abstract some of them may in course of time become possible. India is well placed as regards its The paper deals with the possibility of the manu- facture of light metals beryllium, lithium and sources of aluminium and magnesium and magnesium and their alloys in India. The Indian recent surveys have shown that our beryl- occurrences of the source materials of these metals lium resources are also fairly adequate. are reviewed along with the part these metals play The position of lithium minerals is, however, in world peace-time and war-time industries. The not so good and we have to await the results results of over-production of magnesium in the United States as an incentive for finding new of further work in this direction. applications for the metal are drawn attention to. The writer has already drawn attention to It is pointed out that while Indian magnesite the future of aluminium industry in India'. reserves are good, and those of beryl are proving In the present paper he has attempted to to be fairly good, the position with regard to the assess the position of the other three im- reserves of lithium minerals is not so good, but may improve with future investigations, The main portant light metals, beryllium, lithium and metallurgical aspects of the problem have been magnesium. The importance of a material briefly correlated with the new hydro-electricity is best judged by a consideration of its use- projects now under development. fulness, the manner in which it can be ob- Since the author believes that the importance of a tained, and the problems connected with its material is best judged by its utilitarian aspects, he has laid stress rather on the uses of these metals applications. Attention has, therefore, been and their alloys, etc., with the object of drawing the concentrated on these and similar aspects of attention of the Indian geologist and metallurgist the light metal industry in India; the object to the subject.. is to draw the attention of the Indian geologist and the metallurgist to these Introductory Remarks problems rather than to solve them. The sources from which the data for the present S OME light metals have acquired a thesis are derived unreservedly have been unique position in the metallurgical and acknowledged at the end of the paper. engineering industries today on account of their several useful properties. Amongst these aluminium, beryllium, lithium and Beryllium magnesium appear to be the most important. Our Five Year Plan incorporates aluminium Beryl, a silicate of beryllium and alumi- and magnesium in the mineral development nium, 3BeO.Al203.6SiO3, occurs as an ac- schemes and beryllium and lithium have not cessory mineral in acid igneous rocks, granites been mentioned. and pegmatites, and sometimes in metamor- While the general position of non-ferrous phic rocks such as schists and crystalline metal resources of the country is far from limestones. Economically workable beryl satisfactory, recent investigations have tend- occurrences, however, are confined largely ed to show that the domestic utilization of to pegmatites. 174 DAR - BERYLLIUM, LITHIUM AND MAGNESIUM AND THEIR ALLOYS 175 Theoretically, beryl contains 5 per cent The author and his colleagues have also beryllium metal of which usually not more located beryl occurrences recently in some than 3 per cent can be recovered. Krishnan2 parts of Gujerat and in Bombay State. states that beryllium produced by the In Bihar, beryl-bearing pegmatites are German process is only 60 per cent of the known in Gaya, Hazaribagh and Monghyr metal content of the original ore. Amongst districts. the several beryllium minerals known, the Several sources of beryl, particularly those following contain high amounts of the ele- of Nellore, are known in South India. ment, although they are commonly not met Other beryl occurrences are reported from with in appreciable quantities3. the Sutlej and Chandra valleys in north- western Himalayas. TABLE 1 - SOME HIGH - BERYLLIUM Large prospective tracts await investiga- MINERALS tion in Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa MINERAL THEORE- CHEMICAL FORMULA and Assam. TICAL The Indian beryl has an average analysis of % Be 11-13 per cent BeO, and our resources of the Euklase 6-2 2Be O. A1a02.2 SiO2. H 20 mineral appear to be sufficient for a domestic Chrysoberyl 7-0 BeO. A120a beryllium industry. It will be useful to recall Phenakite 16-2 2BeO.Si0% in this connection that the French beryllium Bertrandite 15-2 4BeO.2SiO2.H20 Beryllonite 7-0 BeO.NaPO3 refinery in 1946 was drawing upon the meagre Herderit 5.0 Be(F, OH)PO2.CaO 500-ton beryl stock in Germany following Hambergite 19-1 4BeO.B2O3.H30 the prohibition of beryllium manufacture in Bromellite 36-0 BeO that country by the Allied Occupation Authorities in February 19464. With the India has -not been the largest beryl pro- embargo on Indian beryl, supply of this rare ducer, Brazil making the largest contri- mineral for the domestic beryllium industry bution to world production of the mineral. is assured. This small production is, however, not due Importance of Beryllium and Its Products in to the paucity of the mineral in the country Modern Industry - The importance of beryl- or to the general poorness of the pegmatites, lium in modern industry can be assessed from but rather to the importance of the rare DeMille's5 statement that war demands minerals not having been recognized till very accounted for 99 per cent of the available recent years and the difficulties of working beryllium, and it is expected to find wider them consequent upon their sporadic and industrial application in peace-time. The uncertain occurrence. importance of a material can only be judged Indian Beryl Occurrences -Workable oc- by the variety of uses to which it, or its pro- currences of beryl so far found in India are ducts, can be put. From some of these out- confined to the pegmatites intruding rocks lined below, it will be observed that this of the Dharwarian age. Rajasthan, Bihar metal can serve many useful national and South India are potential areas for beryl requirements. production- At present the biggest beryl If metallic beryllium could be produced in producer in India is Rajasthan, but there is larger quantities, its use in the metal industry reason to believe that production of this would now rapidly increase. It is slightly mineral will considerably increase in the near heavier than magnesium and considerably future in Bihar and in South India. lighter than aluminium ( density : Mg, 1-75; In Rajasthan, important sources of beryl Be, 1-85; Al, 2-7)_ Other valuable pro- are in Mewar, Jaipur, Tonk, Kishangarh, perties are its strength, resistance to heat parts of jodhpur, Dungarpur and Banswara. and corrosion, and unexcelled resilience, ine' with water is evaporates to _yiela crystal- the volume 01 inc leL: C11L WCLl-LLLLLG c. uL.^.uL, 176 SYMPOSI UM ON NON-FERROUS METAL INDUSTRY IN INDIA which are imparted in greater or lesser Cu-Be alloys are now available in standard measure to its alloys. commercial forms which include plates, Metallic beryllium is used as a deoxidizer sheets, wires, tools, leaf, helical, contact, and desulphurizer in steel-making, in the and Bourbon springs, valve guides for casting of copper, and in limited amounts in engines, pumps, liquid meters, gears, plastic the manufacture of 'windows' for X-ray moulds, die-casting dies and welding elec- tubes, for the production of neutrons for the trodes. Other uses of Be-Cu alloys are in splitting of uranium atoms, and for slowing the setting of industrial diamonds, hubs of down the high-speed fission neutrons emit- adjustable steel aircraft propellers, switch ted from uranium to control the chain re- blades and jaws for electrical range switches, action involved in the explosion of an atom etc., camera parts, appliance plug clips, fuse bomb. clips, optical alloys, vibrator arms, petrol Due to its high fusion point and high and oil pump parts, relays, brush holders, vapour pressure at a temperature not much thermostatic controls, etc. above the fusion point, beryllium can be hot- Other useful copper alloys are those con- worked. Extreme lightness causes it to taining 0.4-0.5 per cent Be and 2-3 per 178 SYMPOSIUM ON NON-FERROUS METAL INDUSTRY IN INDIA Lithium Ores -The chief sources of lithium lead to further discoveries of source minerals are spodumene (LiA1Si2Og ), 3-8-5.6 per cent of lithium. It is also possible that further Li; amblygonite [Li( A1F) PO4 ] ; and lithia exploration and prospecting at depth in mica, lepidolite (Li, K, Na)2A12(&iO3)3(F, OH)2. Bastar may reveal greater reserves of lepido- Amblygonite contains about 9 per cent and lite than are available now in the scattered lepidolite about 4 per cent Li2O on the boulders on the surface. The present lepi- average. Other occasionally mined sources dolite deposits are about 180 miles from the are triphylite, (Li, Na)3PO4± (Fe, Mn)3 (P04)2, railhead at Dhamtari, but the distance from 1.6-3.7 per cent Li; petalite, LiAl( Si2O5 )2, the Vizianagaram-Raipur chord is consider- 2-7-3.7 per cent Li; lithiophilite and zinnzval- ably less. dite. Application of Lithium - Lithium re- The chief lithia-producing countries in sembles the other alkali metals in its pro- order of importance are the U.S.A. (which perties, is the lightest element which retains supplied 50 per cent of the pre-war world its form at ordinary temperature, and enters output of ores ), South-west Africa and into numerous chemical combinations.