Less Common Metals

Less Common Metals Ltd is a world leader in the manufacture and supply of complex alloy systems and metals, and are specialists in those based on rare earth elements. What are rare earth elements?! Rare earth elements are in fact not that rare at all. They are a group of tongue twisting chemical elements that sit on the periodic table containing yttrium and lanthanide. These elements are known as lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium. Number 17 is Scandium; this is discovered in most rare earth element deposits making it fall into the category of rare earths. So, we have 17 rare earth elements with very complicated names, now the next question is, what do we need them for? Rare earths have been in our lives since day one. They just weren’t as “popular” back then. Now that technology is taking off and people are turning to new innovative ways to save energy such as electric vehicles, energy-efficient lighting and wind turbines, rare earth elements are needed on a much larger scale than ever before. Remember when you had your first mobile phone? Your first computer? There were a handful of rare earth elements in there. Now think about how many more mobile phones, computers, laptops are needed plus all the electric vehicles, wind turbines, motors and even robotics that are being manufactured at present. With many years experience in the production of materials to tight compositional tolerances and controlled microstructures, LCM offers an innovative and highly flexible approach to a wide range of material requirements. We fully recognise the importance of building lasting relationships with our customers from the outset, so whatever your alloy development needs please contact us and we will be pleased to study your requirements and work with you to meet your demands. For more information on what we can offer visit www.lesscommonmetals.com