Niobium, the fairy dust of the metallurgical world
Like Columbium but cooler
Presented by:
Sean Piper
Technical Sales and Business Development
CBMM (Brazilian Mining and Metallurgy Company)
Niobium, also known as Columbium, is the 41st element on the periodic table. Known to science since the early 19th century but not widely adopted industrially until the 20th, niobium has since become an indispensable component of the alloys used for pipelines, car bodies, jet engines, MRI machines, and everything in between. Come one, come all for answers to all the questions you were too scared to ask about the element with two names!
CBMM (an acronym for the Portuguese "Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração", or "Brazilian Mining and Metallurgy Company"), is by far the world's leading producer of niobium raw materials, supplying about 80% of the global market. A vertically-integrated producer, CBMM operates a mine in Araxa, Brazil, and processes the ore into ferroniobium and various specialty products such as nickel niobium, pure metal, and oxides. Due to its market concentration and the esoteric nature of many of niobium's applications, CBMM operates more like a technology company than a commodity producer, funding millions of dollars' worth of R&D projects every year to develop new markets and optimize existing ones
Sean's Bio:
Sean grew up in Chicago and attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science & Engineering, specializing in metallurgy. He moved to Houston after graduating to work for TechnipFMC, an oil & gas OEM specializing in subsea completions equipment. Sean worked in supplier quality, materials engineering, and fabrication there before moving to Ellwood Group, a steelmaker, where he worked in metallurgy and continuous improvement for their open and closed die forging divisions. After 4 years at Ellwood, Sean briefly worked for Westinghouse Electric Company in Pittsburgh as a materials engineer supporting their eVinci microreactor project before moving back to Houston to join CBMM, for whom he currently does technical sales and business development for the structural steel market
