Rare earth element | Samarium (Sm)

Rare earth element | Samarium (Sm)

In 1879, Boysbaudley discovered a new rare earth element in the "praseodymium neodymium" obtained from niobium yttrium ore, and named it samarium according to the name of this ore.

Samarium is a light yellow color and is the raw material for making Samarium cobalt based permanent magnets. Samarium cobalt magnets were the earliest rare earth magnets to be used in industry. This type of permanent magnet has two types: SmCo5 series and Sm2Co17 series. In the early 1970s, the SmCo5 series was invented, and in the later period, the Sm2Co17 series was invented. Now it is the demand of the latter that is the main focus. The purity of samarium oxide used in samarium cobalt magnets does not need to be too high. From a cost perspective, around 95% of the product is mainly used. In addition, samarium oxide is also used in ceramic capacitors and catalysts. In addition, samarium also has nuclear properties, which can be used as structural materials, shielding materials and control materials of atomic energy reactors, making nuclear fission generate huge energy to be safely used.