Europium and Gadolinium - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of europium and gadolinium, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Europium vs Gadolinium.

europium and gadolinium - comparison

Compare europium with another element

Compare gadolinium with another element

Europium and Gadolinium – About Elements

Europium

Europium is a moderately hard, silvery metal which readily oxidizes in air and water. Being a typical member of the lanthanide series, europium usually assumes the oxidation state +3. Europium is one of the least abundant elements in the universe. Only about 5×10−8% of all matter in the universe is europium.

Gadolinium

Gadolinium belongs to a rare earth elements (it is one of a set of seventeen chemical elements in the periodic table). In nuclear industry gadolinium is commonly used as a neutron absorber due to very high neutron absorbtion cross-section of two isotopes 155Gd and 157Gd. In fact their absorption cross-sections are the highest among all stable isotopes.

Europium in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Europium and Gadolinium – Applications

Europium

Europium is used in the printing of euro banknotes. It glows red under UV light, and forgeries can be detected by the lack of this red glow. It is a dopant in some types of glass in lasers and other optoelectronic devices. Since the isotopes of europium act as good neutron absorbers, they are being studied for use in nuclear control applications, such as in burnable absorbers.

Gadolinium

Gadolinium possesses unusual metallurgical properties, to the extent that as little as 1% of gadolinium can significantly improve the workability and resistance to oxidation at high temperatures of iron, chromium, and related metals. Gadolinium as a metal or a salt absorbs neutrons and is, therefore, used sometimes for shielding in neutron radiography and in nuclear reactors. Gadolinium is widely used as a burnable absorber, which is commonly used in fresh fuel to compensate an excess of reactivity of reactor core. Among all known stable elements, gadolinium has the highest thermal neutron capture cross-section (49,000 barns). Gadolinium barium copper oxide (GdBCO) has been researched for its superconducting properties with applications in superconducting motors or generators – for example in a wind turbine.

Europium and Gadolinium – Comparison in Table

Element	Europium	Gadolinium
Density	5.244 g/cm3	7.901 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	120 MPa	170 MPa
Yield Strength	60 MPa	160 MPa
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	18.2 GPa	54.8 GPa
Mohs Scale	N/A	N/A
Brinell Hardness	N/A	N/A
Vickers Hardness	170 MPa	570 MPa
Melting Point	822 °C	1313 °C
Boiling Point	1529 °C	3000 °C
Thermal Conductivity	14 W/mK	11 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	35 µm/mK	9.4 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.18 J/g K	0.23 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	9.21 kJ/mol	10.05 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	143.5 kJ/mol	359.4 kJ/mol