In 1846, German chemist Heinrich Rose analyzed different tantalum and columbite ores. He found that there was another element besides tantalum, which was very close to tantalum. He called this new element Niobium (Niobium was taken from the Greek mythological character Niobe, because the name of tantalum came from Tantalos in Greek mythology, and Niobe was the daughter of Tantalos, which further showed the similarity between tantalum and niobium). Between 1864 and 1865, some scientific research results also showed that "columbite" and "niobium" were the same element, and these two names were universal for the next century. In 1864, Swiss chemist Wilhelm Blomstrand first obtained metallic niobium by reducing chloride with hydrogen. In 1951, the Nomenclature Committee of the International Association of Pure and Applied Chemistry officially decided to uniformly adopt niobium (Niobium) as the official name of the element.

Development of the Niobium Industry

In the early 20th century, niobium was first used in the manufacture of incandescent lamps. But this application was soon replaced by tungsten because tungsten has a higher melting point and is more suitable for making incandescent lamps. In the 1920s, the property of niobium to improve the strength of steel was discovered, which promoted the application of niobium in the steel industry. Now, the steel industry is still the main application area of niobium. In the 1940s, the application of tantalum-niobium high-temperature alloys was developed. In the 1950s, the emergence of extraction and separation technology of tantalum-niobium laid the foundation for the development of the niobium industry. In 1961, American physicist Eugene Kunzler and his colleagues at Bell Labs discovered that niobium-tin alloys can continue to maintain superconductivity in the presence of strong currents and strong magnetic fields. This discovery promoted the application of niobium in the fields of electricity and electromagnetics.

In the late 1970s, the world's niobium consumption reached 1,000 to 1,200 tons, and by the end of the 1980s, niobium consumption increased to 1,600 to 1,800 tons. According to data released by the United States Geological Survey in 2014, in 2013, the global niobium production was about 51,000 tons, and the production was relatively concentrated. The niobium production of Brazil and Canada alone accounted for about 98% of the world's total niobium production. North America and Europe are the main niobium consumption areas. China is also a major niobium consumer. In 2010, China's niobium consumption accounted for a quarter of the world's total consumption. The current world's niobium industry, whether it is mineral processing, smelting, processing technology, or production scale, output, application field and consumption, has developed to a very high level. Various niobium products are also widely used in steel, superconducting materials, electronics, medical and other industries. Among them, niobium is consumed the most in the steel field, accounting for about 90% of the world's total niobium consumption.