History of Antimony

Pure antimony metal is silver gray/white and brittle.

From the Middle Ages on, antimony has also featured strongly in alchemy and, indeed, the metal has a number of symbols of its own.

These days, antimony is used for a number of other, different, uses.

Its main use is as a flame retardant. When impregnated with compounds formed from antimony trioxide (Sb2O3), plastics, rubber and textiles all become, to a degree, fireproof.

According to the USGS, in 2008, some 40% of the antimony consumed in the U.S. was used in fire retardants. The remainder was accounted for thusly: transportation, including batteries, 22%; chemicals, 14%; ceramics and glass, 11%: and, others, 13%.

Apart from its use in lead-acid batteries, when mixed with lead, the resulting alloy is considerably stronger than either of the two original metals. (It is also mixed with zinc to make other alloys.) These alloys are to be found in such diverse uses as pipe and sheet metal, solder, cable coverings, pewter, castings and bearings (in particular as Babbitt metal), tank linings and, of course, ammunition.

While, in the glass industry, antimony is used to remove the bubbles from, refine and de-color various different types of glass, in ceramic and porcelain glazes it is actually used as an opacifier. (It can also be used to provide yellow coloring.)

In addition to being used as a catalyst in the polyester industry, in chemical form antimony is used in fireworks (antimony trisulfide produces glittering white stars) and can be found, once again, in ammunition, used as a primer - it promotes ignition. (Antimony has, in the past, also been used in the solid propellants that power rockets, for example, as a stabilizer for burning-rate modifiers in the fuel itself.)

Finally, because of its metalloid nature, research continues into further uses of antimony in semiconductors: It is already used as a dopant.