High purity scandium oxide is mainly used as the raw material of scandium metal and scandium materials, in the metallurgical industry, in the manufacture of alloys, in the nuclear industry, as the emission data of hot electron converters, in solid fuel cells, memory memory single substrates, solid magnetic cooling media, inhibitors, samarium cobalt magnet additives, x-ray intensifying screens, and magnetic refrigerants for various phosphors, neutron absorption data in atomic reaction reactors, magnetic bubble data, and intensifying screen data. It is also useful in optical glass, electronic industry, etc. The fundamental applications of scandium oxide are as follows:
Scandium is used as electric light source information. Scandium sodium lamp, a metal halide lamp made of scandium iodide (ScI3) and scandium foil, has already entered the commodity market. The lamp is a halide discharge lamp. Under high voltage discharge, sodium atoms and scandium atoms in the tube filled with NaI/ScI3 are excited. When the excited state of the high energy level jumps back to the lower energy level, light of a certain wavelength will be radiated. The spectral line of sodium is 589~589.6 nm yellow light, and the spectral line of scandium is 361.3~424.7 nm near ultraviolet and blue light. The matching of scandium and sodium is just close to sunlight. The scandium and sodium atoms returned to the ground state can be synthesized with iodide again, so that the cycle can maintain a higher atomic concentration in the lamp tube and prolong the service life. A scandium sodium lamp with the same illuminance can save 80% electricity compared with ordinary incandescent lamps, and its service life can reach 5000~25000 hours. It is precisely because scandium sodium lamp has the characteristics of high luminous efficiency, good light color, power saving, long service life and strong ability to break fog that it can be widely used for television camera and square, stadium and road lighting, and is called the third generation light source. The improvement rate of halogenated lamps in the United States has exceeded 50%, the annual production of high-pressure sodium lamps has exceeded 10 million, the Japanese products have exceeded 10 million, and the consumption of scandium has reached more than 40Kg. China started late in this regard, but has also implemented the "big light change" program. The development and improvement of global halogenation lamps are expanding day by day, and the demand for scandium will become increasingly urgent.
Yttrium gallium scandium garnet (GSGSS) was prepared by adding 99.9~99.99% Sc2O3 into yttrium gallium garnet (GGG). The emission power of the latter was three times higher than that of the former. GSGG can be used in anti missile defense systems, military communications, underwater lasers for submarines, and various industrial fields, mainly in the United States and Japan.
The secondary optical refractive index of LiNbO3 crystal containing Sc2O3 is reduced, which is suitable for manufacturing parameter frequency selectors, waveguides and photoconductive switches. Adding scandium to optical glass, silicate glass and boron glass can improve the refractive index and reflective property of glass. Scandium oxide glass can be used to manufacture optical fibers in the middle infrared region of the spectrum.
