Discovered in 1871 by P.J. Hjelm in Uppsala, Sweden. Molybdenum is a lustrous, silvery coloured metal which has an abundance of 1.5 ppm in the earth's crust. In many instances, it shows a resemblance to tungsten with which it tends to be paired in the transition series in the periodic table, but their chemistries tend to show more distinct differences than might be expected. Molybdenum has a high melting point and applications for the pure metal take advantage of this; for example, the pure material is used as resistance heating elements in furnaces, as filament supports in electric lamps, and as electrodes for mercury vapour lamps. Molybdenum is used as an alloying agent in certain grades of steel, Permalloys and Stellites (a series of alloys which contain varying proportions of Cr, Co, W and Mo, are very hard and are used in cutting tools and to protect surfaces subject to heavy wear).
Foil - Thin sheets of pure metal and metal alloys. Due to their fragile nature, some foils are coated on one side with an acrylic or polyester support. Where foils are supported they are indicated in the detailed item description.
When dealing with foils at 0.05mm or thinner, we offer 2 options: Light Tight tested foils (denoted as LT in our catalogue) or standard untested foils (denoted as Sizes in our catalogue).
When the foil thickness surpasses 0.05mm, there's no requirement for a light-tight test, as these foils become naturally denser and provide a more effective barrier against light.
