Properties Of Bismuth Alloys

Bismuth alloys have the property of not shrinking when solidified, and are used for casting and printing type and high-precision molds.

Bismuth alloys are often used as additives in cast iron, steel and aluminum alloys to improve the cutting performance of the alloys. A bismuth alloy containing 11% antimony is used to make infrared detectors. Bismuth-tin and bismuth-cadmium alloys are used to make auxiliary electrodes for selenium rectifiers.

A magnetometer was fabricated by utilizing the characteristic of bismuth's sharp decrease in resistivity under the action of a magnetic field. Bismuth-manganese alloys can be used as permanent magnet materials. Bismuth has a small thermal neutron absorption cross section, low melting point and high boiling point, and can be used as a heat transfer medium in nuclear reactors.

Bismuth telluride is widely used to make thermoelectric elements for solar cells, and bismuth telluride can greatly improve the speed and efficiency of computer chips.

Bismuth-silver-cesium alloy can be used to manufacture photoelectric amplifiers, silver-bismuth sulfide is used to manufacture semiconductor instruments, and bismuth-cadmium thermoelectric elements are used for alarm devices.