YTTRIUM

Use

Although yttrium metal by itself is not very useful, it has many unusual applicationswhen combined as an alloy or as a compound with other elements. For example, whencombined with iron, it is known as garnet (Y3Fe5O12), which is used as a “filter” in microwave communication systems. When garnets are made with aluminum instead of iron,they form semiprecious garnet gemstones (Y3Al5O12) that resemble diamonds. Aluminumgarnets are referred to as “YAG” solid-state lasers because they are capable of intensifyingand strengthening a single frequency of light energy that is focused through a crystal ofgarnet. Yttrium is mixed with rare earths as phosphors for color television receivers; oxide for mantles in gas and acetylene lights; in ceramics; in superconductors. Yttrium, plasma standard solution is used as a standard solution in analytical chemistry and atomic absorption spectroscopy. It is also used as a single-element standard solution for plasma emission spectrometry.