FANMETAL is a supplier of precious metal products with more than 20 years of professional experience. We can provide customers with wires, platinum materials or electrode materials made of palladium-iridium alloy, platinum-iridium alloy, iridium-rhodium alloy and platinum-rhodium alloy. These high-quality and cost-effective products have been exported to overseas countries such as the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Indonesia, Brazil, Hungary, Mexico, etc., and have received unanimous praise from customers. Although platinum-iridium alloy and iridium-rhodium alloy are both precious metals, they have subtle differences in characteristics and applications.
1. Processing
Platinum-iridium alloy: The processing performance deteriorates with the increase of iridium content, and it must be processed by high-temperature hot processing before it can be cold-processed into materials.
Iridium-rhodium alloy: It is generally melted by argon protection in a high-frequency furnace, and the ingot is hot rolled and cold processed appropriately.
1. Chemical composition
Platinum-iridium alloy: It is a binary alloy based on platinum, mainly adding iridium elements. Common ones include PtIr10, PtIr17.5, PtIr25, PtIr30, etc.
Iridium-rhodium alloy: It is a binary alloy composed of iridium and rhodium. There are alloys such as IrRh10, IrRh40, IrRh50, and IrRh70.
2. Physical properties
Density: The density of platinum-iridium alloy is generally between pure platinum (21.45 g/cm3) and pure iridium (22.56 g/cm3); the density of iridium-rhodium alloy is about 22 g/cm3.
Melting point: The melting point of platinum-iridium alloy is usually between the melting point of platinum 1772℃ and the melting point of iridium 2446℃; the melting point of iridium-rhodium alloy is as high as about 2450℃.
3. Chemical properties
Corrosion resistance: Among platinum-iridium alloys, alloys containing more than 30% iridium are not corroded by boiling aqua regia; iridium-rhodium alloy has excellent corrosion resistance and can stably exist in harsh environments such as high temperatures and strongacidsd.
Oxidation resistance: Platinum-iridium alloy has certain oxidation resistance at high temperature, but the high-temperature oxidation resistance of iridium-rhodium alloy is stronger than that of pure iridium. At 2000℃, IrRh60 loses about 5% of its weight by oxidation, while pure iridium loses as much as 27%.
4. Application field
Platinum-iridium alloy: It is a classic electrical contact material used for aircraft engine ignition contacts, high-sensitivity relays, and electrical contacts of micromotors, etc.; it can also be used to manufacture medical equipment such as pacemakers and dental implants, key components in aircraft engines or chemical pipelines, etc.
Iridium-rhodium alloy: Mainly used as high-temperature anti-oxidation thermocouples with an operating temperature of over 2000°C. It can also manufacture high-reliability electrical contacts, electrodes, connectors and other electronic components, catalytic converters in petrochemicals or automobile exhaust systems, etc.
