How Are Rare Earth Elements Classified? A Breakdown of the 17 Rare Earth Metals: Properties and Applications
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What Are Rare Earth Elements?
"Rare earth elements," also known as "rare earth metals," refer to a group of 17 metallic chemical elements in the periodic table, including scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), and the 15 lanthanides.
Despite their name suggesting rarity, these elements are not scarce in the Earth's crust. What makes them "rare" is their dispersed distribution and the difficulty of refining them. Only a few deposits are concentrated enough to be mined economically, hence the term "rare earth."
Light and Heavy Rare Earths
Rare earth elements are classified based on differences in their atomic electron structure, physical and chemical properties, occurrence in minerals, and ionic radii.
The most common classification divides them by atomic number (essentially the weight of a single atom) into two categories:
Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE):Lanthanum (La), Cerium (Ce), Praseodymium (Pr), Neodymium (Nd), Promethium (Pm), Samarium (Sm), Europium (Eu), Gadolinium (Gd).
Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE):Terbium (Tb), Dysprosium (Dy), Holmium (Ho), Erbium (Er), Thulium (Tm), Ytterbium (Yb), Lutetium (Lu), Scandium (Sc), Yttrium (Y).
Applied Industries
Rare earth elements exhibit unique magnetic, electrical, and optical properties, making them essential in a wide array of applications: from defense industries, metallurgical modification, precision machinery, electronics, petrochemicals, glass and ceramics, to agriculture and textiles. They are deeply integrated into every facet of modern life.
In particular, adding even a trace amount of rare earths to steel or non-ferrous metals can significantly enhance mechanical strength, wear resistance, and corrosion resistance.
Currently, China holds the world's largest reserves and production capacity of rare earth elements, serving as the primary global supplier.
With increasing attention to resource sustainability and environmental concerns, many countries are now actively developing rare earth recycling technologies to recover these elements from discarded electronics and electrical equipment.
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