Cadmium is a soft, malleable, malleable, silvery-white divalent metal. It is similar to zinc in many ways, but it forms complex compounds. Unlike most other metals, cadmium is corrosion resistant and is used as a protective plating on other metals. As a bulk metal, cadmium is insoluble in water and non-flammable; However, in powdered form, it can burn and emit toxic fumes.
We can offer cadmium ingots which are used in the manufacture of nickel and cadmium-zinc alloys.
Two grades of cadmium-zinc alloy are commonly made:
- 9-10
- 80-20
- or as per customer's requirements
- Cadmium ingots come in various weights: 4-5 kg, 8 kg, 10 kg, 12 kg, 15 kg and 20 kg. per ingot
Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the other two stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, most of its compounds have a +2 oxidation state and, like mercury, it has a lower melting point than the transition metals of groups 3 through 11.
Most zinc ores contain cadmium as a minor component and are a by-product of zinc production. Cadmium has long been used as a corrosion-resistant coating on steel, and cadmium compounds are used as red, orange, and yellow pigments, to color glass, and to stabilize plastics. The use of cadmium is generally declining because it is toxic (it is listed in the European Directive on the Banning of Particularly Hazardous Substances) and nickel-cadmium batteries have been replaced by nickel-metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries. One of its few new uses is in cadmium telluride solar panels.
Cadmium is a common impurity in zinc ore and is often separated during zinc production. Some zinc ores contain up to 1.4% cadmium, from zinc sulfate ores. In the 1970s, cadmium production was 6.5 pounds (2.9 kg) per ton of zinc. Zinc sulphide ore is roasted in the presence of oxygen, which converts it into zinc sulphide oxide. Metallic zinc is produced by fusion of the oxide with carbon or by electrolysis in sulfuric acid. If zinc is melted or cadmium sulfate is precipitated from the electrolysis solution, cadmium is separated from metallic zinc by vacuum distillation.