Characteristics and Applications of Gallium

Hi Friends,

In present post, we will discuss about characteristics and applications of Gallium which is produced as one of the byproducts of Alumina refinery. We already discussed the production process of Vanadium sludge in previous post. The details about Gallium are outlined here in subsequent paragraphs-

Characteristics of Gallium:

Gallium is one out of  four strategic metals which is found in liquid  state at ordinary room temperature, the other being Mercury, Rubidium and Cesium. Gallium is a silvery white metal having melting point of 28.3 deg.C and boiling point at around 2403 deg.C. Like Antimony, Gallium expands when freezes to solids with volume expansion of about 3.2%. The solubility of Gallium in water is negligible but it dissolves in dilute mineral acids. Its solubility is very high in alkaline solution and aqua-regia.

Applications of Gallium:

High purity Gallium having purity at 99.9999% has many technological applications as listed here under-

• Light emitting diodes,
• Opto electronics,
• Industrial thermometers,
• Heat transfer medium,
• Eutectic alloys,
• Liquid seal and
• High temperature lubricants.

The characteristics and applications of Gallium have been broadly described here. The production process of Gallium from circulating Bayer liquor shall be presented in forthcoming post. Please put your views / suggestions / remarks / comments, if any.

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Kunwar Rajendra