Yittria

Dateline: October 2015 – When you troll the list of refractory oxides, you often encounter Calcia, Thoria, and Yttria among the most stable oxides in nature. But, CaO is notoriously hygroscopic and weak. Thoria is slightly radioactive, but not in a cool way that will give you super powers or anything. Y not Yttria?

TOTC made some trial extrusions from Y2O3 many years ago and produced a crushable low density part at ~45% of theoretical density. A recent re-boot of this project has managed to achieve almost 80% of theoretical density, giving a viable medium density product.

The new parts are presently being tested for use in a high neutron flux environment in a nuclear reactor application. The electrical properties of Y2O3 are not as impressive as it’s refractory performance, but it’s resistance to reaction with sensitive thermocouple elements is a big plus.

Please contact us if you can investigate this unique material as a low or medium extrusion.