KEMET Blue Powder Corporation is a manufacturer of tantalum powder. A subsidiary of KEMET Corporation, KEMET Blue Powder Corporation has its base of operations in Carson City, Nevada.
Discovered in Sweden in 1802, the chemical element tantalum is nearly impervious to chemical attack at temperatures below 150 degrees and is also highly corrosion resistant. As a result, tantalum has several uses, including electronic devices such as capacitors. Tantalum also has a high-melting and boiling point, which make it valuable for high-temperature applications.
The largest source of tantalum mining is Australia, with significant supplies also coming from Mozambique, China, Egypt and central Africa. Often, tantalum is extracted from the mineral tantalite. Tantalum can also be recycled from products that contain tantalum powder or wire, such as capacitors.
There are several steps to extracting tantalum from tantalite. These include crushing the mineral and concentrating it via gravitational separation. Additional steps in the tantalum extraction process include chemical separation or electrolysis.
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