Cadmium

Cadmium is a relatively abundant element, however Cadmium ores are rare.  Cadmium is generally found as an impurity in zinc, copper and lead ores.  It is typically produced as a by-product in Zinc production.

Cadmium is a soft, malleable and ductile, bluish white metal.  It is chemically similar to zinc, however Cadmium is highly toxic and should be handled with care.

Due to Cadmium’s toxic nature, its uses are highly restricted.  You can find details of the possible health hazards of different forms of cadmium, the preventative measures your employer needs to apply and the precautions you should take here.

 However Cadmium still has a wide range of applications.  Cadmium is used as a protective coating for metals such as iron.  It is also used to form specialist alloys which have low coefficients of friction and good fatigue resistance.  Cadmium is a component of Ni-Cd batteries, and of television phosphors for both black and white and colour television tubes.  Cadmium sheet is also used for neutron radiation shielding.

Advent Research Materials Ltd supplies Cadmium in foil, sheet and wire form in various different quantities. 

Further properties of Cadmium have been outlined below:

• Cadmium Melting point 321.07 °C
• Cadmium Density 8650  kgm^-3
• Cadmium Young’s modulus 42 GPa
• Cadmium Poisson’s ratio 0.30
• Cadmium Electrical Resistivity 7 x 10^-8 Wm
• Cadmium Thermal Conductivity 97 W m^-1 K^-1