Platinum Group Metals – All You Need To Know About Them

1. Blog1: Globalrefininggroup.com Platinum Group Metals – All You Need To Know About Them Platinum Group Metals comprise of six metals: platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium, and osmium. Out of these six metals, palladium and platinum hold a great commercial value. Platinum Group Metals are widely used as catalysts in the chemical, petroleum refining and automotive industries. These are also used in dental, medical, electrical, as well as jewelry industries. Although the metals that belong to this group are generally found together, minable deposition of the platinum group metals are very rare. Often, platinum group metals are the byproducts resulting due to mining of other metals, generally copper or nickel. The main platinum group metals mining countries are, as per their order of importance, South Africa, Russia, Canada, and the United States of America. The primary domestic use of platinum group metals was in the automobiles catalytic converters and light trucks. They minimize nitrogen monoxides, partially-burnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide in the exhaust gases to bearable levels. Some other applications related to automotive industry consist of oxygen sensors and particular kinds of spark plugs. Both of these use minute quantities of platinum. Electronic uses for platinum group metals include the fabrication of thick-layer resistors with the use of ruthenium. It also includes the production of thick-layer conductors with palladium, and the utilization of platinum as "targets" for spluttering thin layers on the circuit panels. The thermo-couples were incorporated with platinum-rhodium alloys so as to record the accurate temperature. Additionally, rhodium, palladium and platinum are also used for the “bushings” throughout which the textile-glass fiber is released.