From the perspective of the global consumption structure, molybdenum is indeed an ally of iron. 80% of the demand for molybdenum in western developed countries comes from steel, stainless steel absorbs 30% of molybdenum, low-alloy steel absorbs 30%, drill bits and cutting tools account for 10%, and cast steel accounts for 10%. Another 20% of molybdenum consumption is in molybdenum chemicals, molybdenum-based lubricants and petroleum refining. Quite typically, the proportion of molybdenum consumption in steel production in the United States in 1998 was 75%.

In addition, molybdenum-based alloys are increasingly used in electronics, metal processing and aerospace industries.

1. Molybdenum alloy

TZM alloy has excellent high strength and comprehensive properties, and is the most widely used molybdenum alloy. The United States uses TZM alloy to make turbine disks for engines, and the amount of molybdenum used accounts for 15% of the total amount of molybdenum. my country's production of molybdenum materials including TZM molybdenum alloy is no less than 22 grades. In the early 1990s, the output of molybdenum and molybdenum products in my country was nearly 200 tons.

The high mechanical properties of TZM and TZC molybdenum alloys are better than pure molybdenum, and they are widely used in the manufacture of high-tech, molds and various structural parts. As early as the 20th century, our country has successfully made them into the hot perforated plugs of various seamless steel pipes. This kind of sintered molybdenum plug manufactured by powder smelting technology reduces the consumption of raw materials (50% of the as-cast state), and the average service life is increased by 1.5 to 2 times.

Molybdenum rhenium alloy (containing 50% Re) seamless tube made of excellent high performance, can be used at a temperature close to its melting point, used as thermowell and electronic tube cathode bracket, ring, grid and other parts.

Molybdenum and molybdenum alloys not only have high strength, good electrical conductivity, heat conduction, and low thermal expansion coefficient (similar to electron tube glass), but also have the advantage of being easier to process than tungsten. Therefore, plates, strips, foils, etc. produced by conventional processing methods Tubes, rods, wires and profiles, etc. are used in electronic tubes (grid and anode), electric light source (support material) parts, metal processing tools (die-casting and extrusion dies, forging dies, perforated plugs, liquid metal filter screens) and turbine discs, etc. Widely used in components.

2. Alloying elements of steel

As an ally of steel, molybdenum, together with nickel and chromium, as an alloying element can reduce the embrittlement that often occurs in alloy steels during heat treatment. Using molybdenum instead of tungsten in high-speed steel to solve the shortage of tungsten resources, the United States has taken the lead. According to calculations, molybdenum has twice the "capacity" of tungsten. In this way, the steel containing 18% tungsten can be replaced by the steel containing 9% molybdenum (chromium and vanadium are added at the same time), which greatly reduces the production cost of steel. The role of molybdenum in stainless steel is to improve corrosion resistance, increase high strength and improve weldability. It can be seen that molybdenum plays an extraordinary role in the steel industry.

3. Other applications

Molybdenum has a very low vapor pressure under the working temperature and pressure of the vacuum furnace. Therefore, the molybdenum parts have the least pollution to the workpieces or working substances in the furnace, and the evaporation loss will certainly not restrict the service life of high molybdenum parts such as heating elements and thermal insulation encapsulation.

The high strength of molybdenum in the manufacture of glass products makes it the most ideal electrode and processing and processing equipment during rapid heating. Molybdenum is chemically compatible with most glass components, and will not cause harmful color effects due to a small amount of molybdenum dissolved in the glass melting tank. As a heating electrode in a glass melting furnace, its life span can be as long as 3 to 5 years.

4. Emerging applications

The main way to solve the problem of low ductility and high oxidation of molybdenum is to develop an advanced composite material based on molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2).

Mo02 formed by the contact of molybdenum with oxygen sublimates at 800°C and obtains a yellowish-white cloud when condensed, which causes serious engineering problems for the advantages of molybdenum in terms of high strength and creep resistance. For this reason, a self-healing silicon-rich coating is used, but this coating has very poor resistance to thermal cycling effects. The composite material Mo-Si-B with molybdenum disilicide as the matrix has high strength and good oxidation resistance, but its ductility is poor, so it is limited to the production of small batches of commercial products. In order to solve the problem of ductility, the composition range of this molybdenum-silicon-boron composite material was determined so that in addition to its excellent oxidation resistance, its high mechanical properties are comparable to those of TZM alloy. The composite material uses Mo5SiB (T2) as the matrix phase and metallic molybdenum as the second phase. The metal phase improves the ductility of the composite material, and the matrix phase can form a self-healing oxide scale. The prepared Mo-6Ti-2.2Si-1.1B composite material with titanium added at the same time exposed to the air at 1370°C for 2 hours, with almost no changes to the naked eye, which is even better than TZM. This is an amazing achievement for molybdenum-based alloys.

The second new achievement of 　　 Mo is to be used as the inner lining of the bullet-filled warhead (called the warhead in the military). This warhead can penetrate and cut to a very deep depth in military and industrial applications. In this type of device, the medicine around the inner liner is detonated in a controlled manner, causing the inner liner to deform in a very peculiar way. The deformation causes the lining material to produce rod-shaped fragments (ejectors) with extremely high speed and extremely high tension, which can penetrate deeply into the target or target.

The development of molybdenum-lined drug-type masks is a brand-new research field. The traditional bullet-type lining material is copper, but the sound velocity of molybdenum is 5.12 km/sec (copper is 3.94 km/sec) and the density is 10.2 g/cm3 (copper is 8.93 g/cm3). In order to obtain a high-speed coherent jet, the tip must have a high sound velocity. The use of molybdenum type design can make the spray tip speed greater than 12 km/s, while the use of copper speed is still less than 10 km/s. The speed difference between the two is 20% to 25%. The reason is that the high speed of sound increases the energy of the tip, which leads to an increase in penetration. The latest medicine type cover is better with cone and horn type. Substituting molybdenum for copper will be an important reform in ordnance.

The third new achievement of Molybdenum is the manufacture of flat panel display devices. In the electronics industry, flat panel display devices still use active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD) technology. However, LCD is in full progress with field emission display (FED), electroluminescence display (EL), plasma display panel (PDP), cathodoluminescence display (CRT) and vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) which are in different stages of development. Fierce competition in azimuth. In this display process, the display is realized by two glass sheets separated by vacuum. The glass on the back is used as a cathode. More than 500 million emitter tips are distributed in the form of a field emitter array on this piece of glass. The spacing between the emitters is much smaller than the pixels on the TV screen. The emitter tip is made of molybdenum, and they can be controlled individually or in groups during display. In view of their wide viewing angle, fast response time, wide range tolerance, especially low power consumption, together with the trend of clear, bright, movable, and durable, they have become the main driving force for the development of panel display technology. The display market has a market of more than 10 billion US dollars. Flat-panel display technology uses electron beam evaporation to deposit molybdenum on the tip of the emitter. Although the amount is small, it has unlimited prospects for the development of large-screen, high-definition televisions.