Bismuth

In safety devices in fire detection & extinguishing systems, catalyst for making acrylic fibers, in prodn of malleable irons, carrier for radioactive uranium fuel in atomic reactors.

In type metal for the printing industry.

Manufacture of bismuth salts, stereotype metal, fusible boiler plugs, electric fuses & low-melting solders, in tempering baths for steel, "silvering" mirrors, & in dental technique.

Alloying agent, component of fusible & other alloys, chemical intermediate for pharmaceuticals & other chemicals, wire used in thermocouplers, galvanometers, additive (hardener) for lead, tin & cadmium.

In cosmetics (eye polish, lipstick), catalyst in making acrylonitrile, permanent magnets, semiconductors, additive to improve machinability of steels & other metals, coating selenium, thermoelectric materials.

Industrial uses: Pigment, Other, Alloys.

Consumer uses: Other, Alloys.

Bismuth is a brittle, silvery-white metal that is used in paints, cosmetics, electronics, and a few over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, usually as bismuth subsalicylate or subcitrate, primarily to treat diarrhea and digestive disorders. Currently, the major medical use of bismuth is as a component of quadruple therapy of Helicobacter pylori infection. There is scant evidence that bismuth, even in high doses, causes serum aminotransferase elevations or clinically apparent liver injury.

Debismuthizing of lead bullion by (a) fractional crystallization, (b) electrolytic (betts) refining, or (c) addition of calcium or magnesium (betterton-kroll process) which removes bismuth.

It can...be extracted by roasting.../lead or copper/ sulfide to oxide & reducing this with charcoal in crucibles or reverberatory furnace.

Obtained as by-product from processing of lead, copper, & tin ores.