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Bismuth-Based Materials

High-Purity, Lead-Free Solutions for Precision Applications

Vital Materials is a leading global supplier of high-purity bismuth, offering a wide range of bismuth metals, oxides, compounds, and alloys engineered for performance across industrial, medical, pharmaceutical, and electronic sectors. Our materials are available in a variety of forms including ingots, powders, shots, and needles, with tailored particle sizes and purities to meet application-specific requirements.

Bismuth’s unique physical and chemical properties—including low thermal conductivity, high diamagnetism, and its non-toxic, lead-free nature—make it an increasingly vital element in green technology, advanced electronics, and specialty alloys.

Key Applications

• Bismuth Metal: Additive for improving machinability in copper, aluminum, and steel; also used in ammunition, radiation shielding, and medical applications
• Bismuth Alloys: Applied in lens blocking, low-melting-point solders, tube bending, and thermal safety devices
• Bismuth Oxides: Used in ceramics, glass manufacturing, varistors, capacitors, and dielectric coatings
• Bismuth Compounds: Utilized in catalysts, pigments, lubricants, and friction materials
• Pharmaceutical-Grade Bismuth: Critical ingredient in gastrointestinal treatments including bismuth subsalicylate and bismuth subgallate

Why Bismuth from Vital Materials?

• Eco-Friendly, lead-free alternatives for regulated markets
• Consistent high purity across all formats and custom specs
• Global production and distribution, ensuring supply-chain stability
• Custom alloys and compounds developed for your process needs

Interested in learning more about bismuth materials or how to integrate bismuth compounds and alloys into your application? Contact us.

Chalcogenide Glass (ChG)

Vital Materials offers high-performance chalcogenide glass (ChG) materials for infrared optical systems, supporting a wide range of commercial and industrial applications. As a source-to-solutions provider, we help customers integrate ChG into cost-sensitive designs that demand scalability, precision, and optical reliability. With growing interest in alternatives to traditional IR materials, ChG has become a compelling option—offering comparable performance and a more efficient path to high-volume production.

Properties and Key Characteristics

Chalcogenide glass is an amorphous material composed of elements such as selenium, sulfur, or tellurium, often combined with network formers like arsenic or germanium. Unlike crystalline materials, which require diamond turning and are more challenging to scale, ChG can be molded directly into aspheric and complex shapes, enabling efficient, large-scale production.

• Lower density and thermo-optic coefficient (dn/dT)
• Higher thermal expansion, closely aligned with aluminum
• Lower refractive index and greater dispersion than crystalline counterparts
• Stable optical performance across a broad temperature range

While ChG is not a one-to-one replacement for germanium, its properties allow for comparable infrared system performance when optical designs are properly tailored. Chalcogenide glass is increasingly used in infrared optics where cost, scalability, and production flexibility are critical. It enables advanced optical designs in markets ranging from thermal imaging and sensing to industrial and consumer electronics.

Design Considerations

• Proven formulations like As₄₀Se₆₀ (e.g., VIG06) offer consistent, scalable results
• Not all compositions are suitable for every application; material selection must align with system requirements

Vital Materials works closely with customers to recommend ChG options best suited to their performance and supply-chain needs. Our goal is to ensure long-term availability and application-specific compatibility for optical system designers.

Interested in learning more about ChG formulations or how to integrate chalcogenide glass into your optical system design? Contact us.