Brief History of Rhenium

The chemical symbol for Rhenium is “Re” ,the atomic coefficient of Rhenium is 75 and the atomic weight is 186.207.Rhenium is in the periodic system Ⅶ B. Early in 1872,according to the Periodic law of elements, the Russian Scientist Dmitri Mendeleev predicted that there was a chemical element with an atomic weight 190 and similar to manganese yet to find , named Manganese-like. Until 1925, German chemist Walter Noddack found this element from the residue of platinum group metals and named it rhenium in honor of Rhine River.

Properties of Rhenium

Rhenium is a silvery-white heavy metal with a melting point of 3180℃,boiling point 5600℃ and density 21.02g/cm3. Rhenium is stable at room temperature and starting to be oxidized when temperature reached 300℃. Rhenium and sulfur vapor will synthesize into rhenium disulfide and halide with fluorine, chlorine, bromine. The chemical properties of Rhenium depending on its aggregation and rhenium powder is more lively. The oxidation state of Rhenium including -1,+1,+2,+3,+4,+5,+6 and +7 valence. The oxides of Rhenium are Re2O、Re2O3、ReO2、ReO3、Re2O7.

 Application of Rhenium 

With the various of excellent properties, Rhenium has become an important material used in many fields. More than 60 percent of global production of rhenium is used to make superalloy parts for jet engines. Another major application of rhenium is in platinum-rhenium catalysts, which can be used to produce unleaded, high-octane gasoline.