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Cadmium

Silver cadmium is considered to be a relatively rare metal in nature. However, we commonly use this element in our daily lives in the form of nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries for electronic equipment.

Alloys of the element make up a large part of cadmium's applications in industry. Bearing metals, solders, electrical conductors, and jewelry all have cadmium as a constituent.

The 3D colour digitizer at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) uses a cadmium laser to produce blue colour in its images. With this newly developed 3D scanning technology, objects ranging in size from small ornaments to large-scale buildings can be intricately reproduced digitally with NRC's virtual reality technologies.

Another useful application of cadmium is found at NRC's Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (CNBC). Neutron beams are directed onto material samples in the lab to explore their properties. Sheets of cadmium are used to shield sample mounts and other equipment from the neutrons. Cadmium is the main element employed for this purpose due to its neutron absorption properties and its easy formability.