Beryllium , including Technical Data, Safety Data and its High Purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure,ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.
Beryllium is most commonly used in alloys with our base metallic materials. As a 1 - 3% addition to copper it produces "beryllium bronze", a highly wear resistant material and with nickel it is used to make spot welder electrodes. Beryllium is a fairly soft metal that is brittle yet strong. Beryllium is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. It is used as a coating on X-ray tubes because it is transparent to the X-ray range. It emits neutrons on bombardment by alpha rays. It also has applications in the nuclear industry.
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Beryllium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such usesas optical coatingand thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Beryllium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Beryllium is a Block S, Group 2, Period 2 element. The number of electrons in each of Beryllium‘s shells is 2, 2 and its electronic configuration is [He] 2s2. In its elemental form beryllium‘s CAS number is 7440-41-7. The beryllium atom has a radius of 111.3.pm and it‘s Van der Waals radius is 200.pm.
All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Beryllium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.
Beryllium is found in bertrandite (Be4Si2O7(OH)2), beryl(Al2Be3Si6O18), chrysoberyl (Al2BeO4) and phenakite(Be2SiO4). Beryllium was first discovered by Abbé René-Just Hauy in 1798. The origin of the name Beryllium comes from the Greek word ‘beryllos‘ meaning beryl.
Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of beryllium and each of its naturally occurringisotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
Isotope
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Atomic Mass
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% Abundance on Earth
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Be-9
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9.0121821
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100
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The following table shows the abundance of Beryllium present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
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Typical Human Body
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Universe
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by Weight
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0.4 ppb
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1 ppb
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by Atom
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0.3 ppb
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0.1 ppb
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Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for beryllium metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Beryllium compounds have no biological role.
Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for beryllium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it‘s ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:
1st Ionization Energy
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899.51 kJ mol-1
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2nd Ionization Energy
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1757.12 kJ mol-1
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3rd Ionization Energy
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14848.87 kJ mol-1
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Conductivity. As to beryllium‘s electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured as to electrical resistivity @ 20 ?C is 4 μΩcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.57. The thermal conductivity of beryllium is 200 W m-1 K-1.
Thermal Properties. The melting point and boiling point for beryllium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
Heat of Fusion
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9.8 kJ mol-1
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Heat of Vaporization
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308.8 kJ mol-1
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Heat of Atomization
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320.3 kJ mol-1
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Formula
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Atomic Number
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Molecular Weight
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Electronegativity (Pauling)
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Density
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Melting Point
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Boiling Point
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Vanderwaals radius
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Ionic radius
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Energy of first ionization
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Be
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4
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9.01218 g.mol-1
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1.5
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1.86 g.cm-3
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1280 °C
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2970°C
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200.pm
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Unknown
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899.51 kJ.mol-1
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