Vanadium (V) - Properties, Applications

Topics Covered

Introduction
Chemical Properties
Physical Properties
Mechanical Properties
Thermal Properties
Applications

Introduction

Vanadium is a hard, ductile metal with a silvery-gray appearance. It is harder than most metals and exhibits good corrosion resistance against alkalis and acids. Its atomic number is 23 and is represented by the symbol V. It belongs to the transition metal category, period 5 and group 4 of the periodic table.

Vanadium occurs in a wide range of minerals, the most popular being patronite, vanadinite, carnotite and bauxite. The largest resources of vanadium minerals are found in South Africa and Russia.

Chemical Properties

The chemical properties of vanadium are provided in the table below:

Chemical Data
CAS number 7440-62-2
Thermal neutron cross section 4.7 barns/atom
Electrode potential -1.50 V
Ionic radius 0.590 Å
Electro negativity 1.63
X-ray absorption edge 2.269 Å
Electrochemical equivalent 0.380 g/A/h

Physical Properties

The following table discusses the physical properties of vanadium.

Properties Metric Imperial
Density 6.1 g/cm3 0.221 lb/in3
Melting point 1910 °C 3470 °F
Boiling point 3407 °C 6165 °F

Mechanical Properties

The mechanical properties of vanadium are tabulated below.

Properties Metric Imperial
Youngs Modulus 128 GPa 18465 ksi
Shear modulus 47 GPa 6816 ksi
Poissons Ratio 0.37 0.37
Mohs Hardness 7 7

Thermal Properties

The thermal properties of vanadium are tabulated below.

Properties Metric Imperial
Thermal expansion co-efficient (@25°C/68-77°F) 8.4 µm/m°C 4.6 µin/in°F
Thermal conductivity 30.7 W/mK 213 BTU in/hr.ft².°F

Applications

The following are the application areas of vanadium:

  • Alloying of steel
  • Jet engines, high speed air frames
  • Crank shafts, gears and axles
  • Nuclear reactors

Vanadium compounds such as vanadium oxide are used in the manufacture of sulphuric acid and maleic anhydrides. Vanadium dioxide is used for coating glass to block infra red radiation.

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