Lanthanum hexaboride LaB6 powder

Brief information:

Lanthanum hexaborate is an inorganic non-metallic compound composed of low valence boron and rare metal element lanthanum, which has a special crystal structure and basic characteristics of borides. From the perspective of material properties, lanthanum hexaborate LaB6 belongs to a metal refractory compound with a cubic crystal structure. It has excellent properties such as high hardness, high conductivity, high melting point, low coefficient of thermal expansion, and good chemical stability. At the same time, lanthanum hexaborate emits high current density and low evaporation rate at high temperatures, and has strong resistance to ion bombardment, strong electric field, and radiation. It has been used in cathode materials, electron microscopy, electron beam welding Applications in fields that require high emission currents, such as discharge tubes.

 Lanthanum hexaborate has stable chemical properties and does not react with water, oxygen, or even hydrochloric acid; At room temperature, it only reacts with nitric acid and aqua regia; Oxidation only occurs at 600-700 ℃ in an aerobic atmosphere. In a vacuum atmosphere, LaB6 material is prone to react with other substances or gases to form low melting point substances; At high temperatures, the formed substances will continuously evaporate, exposing the low escape work surface of the lanthanum hexaborate crystal to the emission surface, thereby giving lanthanum hexaborate excellent anti poisoning ability.

 The lanthanum hexaborate cathode has low evaporation rate and long service life at high temperatures. When heated to a higher temperature, the surface metal lanthanum atoms generate vacancies due to evaporation loss, while the internal metal lanthanum atoms also diffuse to supplement vacancies, keeping the boron framework structure unchanged. This property minimizes the evaporation loss of LaB6 cathode and maintains an active cathode surface at the same time. At the same emission current density, the evaporation rate of LaB6 cathode materials at high temperatures is lower than that of general cathode materials, and low evaporation rate is an important factor in extending the service life of cathodes.

Application:

1. Lanthanum hexaborate LaB6 cathode material

The high emission current density and low evaporation rate at high temperatures of LaB6 lanthanum hexaborate make it a cathode material with superior performance, gradually replacing some tungsten cathodes in industrial applications. Currently, the main application areas of LaB6 cathode materials with lanthanum hexaborate are as follows:

1.1 New technology industries such as microwave vacuum electronic devices and ion thrusters in military and space technology fields, display and imaging devices with high definition and high current emissivity required by civil and military industries, and electron beam lasers. In these high-tech industries, the demand for cathode materials with low temperature, high uniformity emissivity, high current emission density, and long lifespan has always been very tight.

1.2 The electron beam welding industry, with the development of the economy, requires electron beam welding machines, electron beam melting, and cutting equipment with cathodes that can meet the requirements of high current density and low escape work. However, traditional equipment mainly uses tungsten cathodes (with high escape work and low current emission density) that cannot meet application requirements. Therefore, LaB6 cathodes have replaced tungsten cathodes with their superior performance and have been widely used in the electron beam welding industry.

1.3In the high-tech testing instrument industry, LaB6 cathode utilizes its high brightness, long lifespan and other characteristics to replace traditional hot cathode materials such as tungsten cathode in electronic equipment such as electron microscopes, Auger spectrometers, and electron probes.

 1.4In the accelerator industry, LaB6 has higher stability against ion bombardment compared to traditional tungsten and tantalum. As a result, LaB6 cathodes are widely used in accelerators with different structures such as synchrotron and cyclotron accelerators.

1.5The LaB6 cathode can be applied in gas discharge tubes, laser tubes, and magnetron type amplifiers in the 1.5 discharge tube industry.

2. LaB6, as an electronic component in modern technology, is widely used in civil and defense industries:

2.1 Electron emission cathode. Due to the low electron escape work, cathode materials with the highest emission current at medium temperatures can be obtained, especially high-quality single crystals, which are ideal materials for high-power electron emission cathodes.

2.2 High brightness point light source. The core components used for preparing electron microscopes, such as optical filters, soft X-ray diffraction monochromators, and other electron beam light sources.

2.3 High stability and high lifespan system components. Its excellent comprehensive performance enables its application in various electron beam systems, such as electron beam engraving, electron beam heat sources, electron beam welding guns, and accelerators, for the production of high-performance components in engineering fields.

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