Niobium in Health: Understand How This Element Is Important for Saving Lives

Niobium in Health Brings Important Improvements to the Quality of Life of People Who Need Prosthetics, Pacemakers, and Various Tests. Understand.

Niobium is a metal that is used in various industrial sectors. Its applications promote important results in the properties of metal alloys, increasing the mechanical resistance of products in the automotive, military, aerospace, electronic, and even nuclear industries.

But in times of increasing need for technologies to improve health services, the portal Click Petroleo e Gás answers: what is the importance of Niobium in health? Find out now.

Niobium Improves Product Resistance and That’s Why Everyone Wants It

To understand the importance of Niobium in health, it is first important to know that anything electronic or anything made of steel improves with just a little of this metal.

And it is Brazil that dominates about 90% of the Niobium market. The country is responsible for a large part of the commercialization of this metal. In total, there are more than 85 reserves worldwide.

Leading the Niobium trade in Brazil and the world is the company CBMM. Each year, between 150 and 200 million reais are invested in its technology program, which aims to diversify the applications of this metal.

It is estimated that by 2030 about 35% of the company’s sales volume will come from segments outside the steel industry, which currently accounts for 90% of its sales volume.

But after this brief context of the product, understand how Niobium in health can bring even more quality of life to people.

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How Does Niobium Apply in Health?

Niobium, being a superconductor, malleable, and highly resistant to corrosion, can be used in medical devices such as pacemakers, CT scanners, and MRI machines.

The product is applied in superconducting magnets used in obtaining images from these devices.

The metal can also be used in orthopedic prosthetics, making them more durable, resistant, and adaptable to the human body. Niobium provides characteristics of malleability and resistance. Therefore, it reduces the risk of deformation of these products.

The addition of Niobium in prosthetics helps to prevent rejection by the human body and a series of surgeries. In traditional technology, painful procedures were often required for the patient to fit the prosthesis. With this solution, all of that will be eliminated.

Niobium in the Fight Against Covid-19

Recently, researchers at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) developed a Niobium-based solution that could protect surfaces from the new coronavirus for up to 24 hours.

The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) is still analyzing the substance. But according to the proposal, the product could be used in medical offices or at home, either sprayed or in gel form.

The tests were sponsored by an investor and took place in a laboratory at the University of São Paulo (USP).

Partnerships Aimed at Applying Niobium in Health

CBMM, in search of new technological routes and markets for Niobium, has partnered with the Brazilian Company for Research and Industrial Innovation (EMBRAPII IPT Unit) and AACD to develop orthopedic prosthetics made of Nb-Ti (niobium-titanium) and Ti-Nb-Zr (titanium-niobium-zirconium) alloys.

These materials are biocompatible and have mechanical characteristics closer to those of human bones.

The proposal for this Niobium application in health is to produce, using MRI scans and additive manufacturing and selective laser melting, parts that perfectly fit the body.

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