Capacitor grade tantalum powder is used extensively for making tantalum capacitors which are used in computers, cell phones, automobiles & many other electronic applications where utmost reliability is required in terms of life & severe temperature conditions. The other applications of tantalum are in high temperature furnaces, super alloys, structural applications, chemical industries due to its refractory nature & also in electrolytic bath as electrodes.

Tantalum metal finds applications in diverse fields such as electronics, high temperature furnaces, chemical processing, carbide tools; steel and super alloy industry, etc. The major part of Tantalum is consumed by capacitor manufacturers. It covers almost 70% of total demand.

The extraction of tantalum from its ore (Tantalite ore) & its subsequent purification & conversion to tantalum powder consist of a number of process steps. Mostly these steps include crushing & milling of the ore to powder form followed by its dissolution in acid to bring tantalum to solution form. Then the tantalum is required to be separated from the other impurity elements by solvent extraction. The tantalum containing pure solution is then converted to tantalum containing potassium salt where further purification takes place. The salt is then reduced to tantalum powder by sodium reduction process. The reduced tantalum is then washed with combinations of acids & water to get pure tantalum powder. The Ta powder so obtained is dried & subjected to powder processing techniques to get low voltage capacitor grade tantalum powder. For high voltage capacitor grade tantalum powder, the as-reduced tantalum powder is subjected to EB melting for its further purification. This is then subjected to hydriding, milling & dehydriding to get high voltage capacitor grade tantalum powder.

Specifications Key features

• Process technology developed using indigenous raw materials
• Economically viable process
• Good quality products

Highlights

Technology is available with C-MET, Hyderabad at 300 kg/annum. The product has been evaluated at the user end. The technology fee is as per the C-MET norms.

CHEMICAL ANALYSIS

Sl. No	Elements in Cd matrix	Concentration in ppm
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.	Fe Ni Cr Si Nb C O H	<50 <50 <50 <100 <25 <100 <2000 <100

 

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

Particle size : 1-3 microns

ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES

Capacitance : 14000-16000 µFV/gm

Dc Leakage : 0.0005-0.0002 µA/µF.V

 

 

APPLICATIONS:

PRODUCT MAIN APPLICATIONS

a) Capacitor grade metal powder : Capacitors
b) Sintered grade metal powder : Fabrication of metal products wires, sheets
c) Semi-finished products : Electronics & chemical industries
d) Structural grade metal powder : High temperature alloys

MARKET DEMAND

At present the estimated total demand of Indian Tantalum capacitor manufacturing industries for capacitor grade Tantalum powders & lead wires is about 600 Kg / year for preparation of solid electrolytic capacitors and for structural applications it is about 5 Tons/year.

END USERS

M/s Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), Hyderabad