Niobium Physical Properties

Niobium is a grayish-white metal with a melting point of 2468°C, a boiling point of 4742°C, and a density of 8.57 g/cm3. Niobium is a lustrous gray metal that is paramagnetic, and high-purity niobium metal is highly ductile but hardens with increasing impurity content. Its outermost electron arrangement is very different from that of the other group 5 elements. The same phenomenon occurs for the elements ruthenium (44), rhodium (45) and palladium (46), which come before and after it.

Niobium exhibits superconductor properties at low temperatures. At standard atmospheric pressure force, niobium has a superconducting critical transition temperature of 9.25 K, which is the highest of all metals with superconducting properties. [5] Its magnetic penetration depth is also the highest of all elements. Niobium is one of the three monatomic class II superconductors, the other two being vanadium and technetium. The purity of niobium metal greatly affects its superconducting properties.
Niobium has a very low capture cross section for thermal neutrons, making it quite useful in the nuclear industry.