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Almost all of the antimony used in the world is in alloy with lead and other additional elements such as tin. Antimony will harden lead so that it has the mechanical strength to perform certain tasks. Around 50% of pure antimony currently produced is used for hardening lead, to make alloys which are then used (mostly) in batteries.
However antimony lead has a variety of other applications that are also important.
Ship Ballast
For ships and sailing boats, ballast Lead comes in a variety of sizes, shapes and grades; a common used for this application is Machine Lead which is around 1-4% Antimony content the remainder is Pure Lead
Babbit Metal
The eponymous Babbitt which is named after Isaac Babbitt, babbitt metal, an alloy of tin, copper and antimony is used in machine bearings due to its hard but slippery, lubricant properties.
Babbitt formulated a metal alloy in 1839 that was successfully used as the bearing surface in metal bearings. Also know as Babbitt metal, white metal or bearing metal, the exact formulation invented by Babbitt is not know, however several compositions have been created, some common ones involve alloys of lead and are known as lead babbitt: including 80% lead, 15% antimony, 5% tin.
Lead Ammunition
Pure lead as bullet lead works well at low velocities. In more modern firearms that have higher velocities the lead tends to be deposited on the rifling within the bores. In order to reduce this modern bullet lead is usually made of an alloy of lead and tin or lead and antimony. These lead alloys are harder that pure lead. At the higher velocities a gas check made of copper, placed at the back of the bullet lead, reduces the amount of melting that occurs at the back of the lead bullet.
A wide range of bullet lead formulations are available, including pure lead, lead shot, and lead alloys. Standard lead alloys for bullets are lead/ tin with up to 9% tin, lead antimony with up to 6% antimony and lead/tin/antimony mixes. Nuclead can also offer custom ammunition metal formulations.
To control the hardness of shot used in shotgun shells, varying amounts of antimony are added to the lead shot, forming lead alloys.
Radiation shielding
Interlocking lead bricks
Lead Bricks are normally produced from pure lead to reduce cost, but can be produced with about 4 per cent Antimony Lead alloy, which is harder than Pure Lead, and more resistant to damage. Interlocking lead bricks provide quick assembly and breakdown for easy portability. Interlocking lead bricks are commonly found in nuclear reactors, radioactive medicine storage, and radioactive lab material storage.
Lead casks (nuclear casks)
Nuclear casks are heavily lead shielded containers used to store and or ship radioactive materials. Such as spent nuclear fuel or other high-level radioactive waste.
Lead is used throughout the nuclear industry as a radiation shielding material as it has a high atomic weight and blocks radiation very effectively. However, as lead is also quite malleable, lead alone is not mechanically rugged enough to be used for nuclear casks on its own.
Most of the lead cask is cast as a single pour of molten lead alloy into the machined mold. This process ensures a continuous vessel with no seams that could allow radiation to leak out.
Other applications for Antimony, antimony compounds and alloys
Here are some of the other applications for Antimony that do not involve lead:
It is also used as an alloying ingredient for tin alloys to produce pewter tableware.
Antimony is used in cable covering, castings, solder, etc.
Antimony expands when it freezes; this makes it ideal for certain applications such as type for mechanical printing presses.
High purity antimony (3 9s or greater), is used in the semiconductor industry as a p-type dopant for silicon wafers. The wafers are used to make diodes for electrical and light emitting diodes.
Antimony trioxide (SbO3) is a very effective flame retardant, used in the making of clothing and seat covers. It is also used in medicine and for metal staining.
Antimony sulfide is used in vulcanizing rubber, as a paint pigment , in fireworks and tracer bullets.
Safety Precautions
Antimony and many of its compounds are toxic, and the effects of antimony poisoning are similar to arsenic poisoning, though it is far less toxic.
Nuclead has lead antimony available.
Nuclead can supply lead antimony for all applications, including Antimony Lead rounds, Antimony Lead flat stock, babbitt metal, lead antimony alloys for high velocity ammunition metal and lead bricks and lead casks for radiation protection.
