Niobium · element 41
Named for the daughter of Tantalus, it strengthens steel bridges and lets MRI scanners superconduct
Key facts
Niobium spent its first 150 years arguing about its own name. Discovered in London in 1801 and christened columbium after America, it was later confused with tantalum, rediscovered in Germany and renamed after Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus in Greek myth. American engineers kept saying columbium long after the international decision for niobium in 1949.
It is a soft, grey, ductile metal in group 5, above tantalum, with a very high melting point and an unusual talent: below about 9 kelvin it becomes a superconductor, carrying electric current with no resistance at all. Most niobium, though, does something more ordinary: a pinch of it makes steel much stronger.
Where it is found
Niobium occurs at around 20 parts per million in the crust, always in the company of tantalum. The main ores are pyrochlore, a complex oxide found in carbonatite rocks, and columbite, which pairs with tantalite in coltan. Because the two elements are almost identical chemically, every niobium deposit contains some tantalum and every tantalum deposit some niobium.
Production is extraordinarily concentrated. A single deposit at Araxá in Brazil supplies most of the world's niobium, and Brazil accounts for roughly nine tenths of output, with Canada's Niobec mine the main alternative. Most niobium leaves the mine as ferroniobium, an iron alloy ready to add to molten steel.
How it was discovered
In 1801 Charles Hatchett, an English chemist, analysed a heavy black mineral in the British Museum collection that had been sent from Connecticut more than a century earlier. He found an oxide of a new element and named it columbium, Columbia being a poetic name for America. The following year Anders Ekeberg discovered tantalum in Swedish minerals, and in 1809 William Hyde Wollaston declared, wrongly, that the two were the same element.
The confusion lasted until 1844, when Heinrich Rose in Berlin showed that columbite contained two distinct elements. He named the lighter one niobium, after Niobe, because it was so closely tied to tantalum. Europe adopted niobium, America kept columbium, and the international chemistry union settled on niobium in 1949.
What we use it for
About nine tenths of all niobium goes into steel. Adding less than one tenth of one per cent refines the grain structure and roughly doubles the strength, allowing thinner sections. This high-strength low-alloy steel builds pipelines, car bodies, bridges and skyscrapers. Jet engine superalloys contain several per cent of niobium to stay strong when hot, and niobium alloys formed rocket nozzle extensions in the Apollo programme.
The glamorous uses depend on superconductivity. Niobium-titanium wire wound into coils generates the powerful magnetic fields inside MRI scanners and the bending magnets of the Large Hadron Collider. Cavities of pure niobium accelerate particle beams with almost no energy loss, and thin niobium films form the circuits of many superconducting quantum computers. Niobium is biocompatible and forms rainbow oxide colours when anodised, so it is popular for body jewellery and coloured coins, and lithium niobate crystals steer light in fibre optic networks.
Reading the numbers
Niobium melts at 2477 °C, nearly a thousand degrees above iron, and boils at about 4744 °C, one of the highest boiling points of any element. Its density of 8.57 grams per cubic centimetre is a little more than iron's but only about half that of tantalum directly below it. That combination of heat resistance and moderate weight suits it to aerospace use.
The configuration [Kr] 4d4 5s1 is slightly irregular. A simple filling order would predict 4d3 5s2, but in period 5 the 4d and 5s levels are so close in energy that an extra d electron wins. Either way there are five electrons outside the krypton core, and niobium gives up all five in its most stable compounds, such as niobium pentoxide. The ionisation energies rise steadily through five values, 652, 1380, 2416, 3700 and 4877 kJ/mol, then double to 9847 for the sixth, confirming that count. Its electronegativity of 1.6 is typical of an early transition metal, and its group 5 position explains its kinship with vanadium above and tantalum below.
Safety and the environment
Niobium metal is inert in the body and is used for implants and piercings without causing allergic reactions. Its compounds have low toxicity, though data are limited and dust is treated as an irritant, and niobium powder can catch fire.
The environmental issues are those of mining. Pyrochlore ores contain traces of thorium and uranium, so tailings must be managed for low-level radioactivity. Because one Brazilian operation dominates supply, several governments class niobium as a critical material. The steel containing it is recycled whenever scrap is remelted.
Did you know?
- Brazil supplies roughly nine tenths of the world's niobium, most of it from one deposit at Araxá.
- Niobium becomes a superconductor below about 9.2 kelvin, the highest transition temperature of any pure element at normal pressure.
- Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus in Greek myth, and the element was named to reflect how inseparable it is from tantalum.
- American industry called the element columbium for more than a century, and the name still appears in some US specifications.
- Anodised niobium shows brilliant blues, purples and golds with no dye at all; the colours come from light interfering in a thin oxide film.
- The superconducting magnets in every MRI scanner are wound from niobium-titanium wire cooled by liquid helium.
More in the transition metals
Column-mates come first, since elements in one column have outer electrons arranged in a similar way and tend to behave alike; the rest are the nearest neighbours in the family.
See all 38 transition metals on one page, or browse all 118 elements.
Frequently asked questions
Is niobium the same as columbium?
Yes. Columbium was the original name given by its discoverer Charles Hatchett in 1801, and niobium was the name given in 1844 after chemists confirmed it was distinct from tantalum. The international chemistry body chose niobium in 1949, but columbium persisted in American metallurgy for decades.
Is niobium magnetic?
At room temperature niobium is only very weakly paramagnetic and will not stick to a magnet. Cooled below about 9 kelvin it becomes a superconductor and actively pushes magnetic fields out of itself. Its alloys are what generate the strong fields in MRI machines rather than being magnets themselves.
Why is niobium used in MRI scanners?
MRI scanners need a very strong, very stable magnetic field, which requires huge electric currents. Wire made of niobium-titanium alloy carries that current with zero resistance when cooled in liquid helium, so the magnet can run for years without losing energy. Copper wire would overheat and waste enormous amounts of power.
Is niobium jewellery safe for sensitive skin?
Niobium is one of the safest metals for piercings and jewellery. It does not contain nickel, does not corrode in contact with skin and is used in medical implants. The bright anodised colours are a natural oxide layer, not a coating that can flake off or cause reactions.
Read next
Guess the mystery element in six tries. A new one every day, free, no sign-up.
Written by Anthony. Updated September 2026. Numerical data from Periodic-Table-JSON (CC BY-SA), cross-checked against the Niobium reference article. Spotted an error? Tell us.