Helium Applications

An important technological raw material, helium gas is a source of ultra-low temperatures. Under such a temperature regime, the thermal motion of free electrons and atoms in solids ceases, which leads to the appearance of a very important effect of superconductivity in the solid state.

* Helium in a gaseous state, due to its lightness, is used to fill balloons.

* An important quality of gas is its incombustibility, therefore, in the form of a mixture with hydrogen, it is an effective filler for airships.

* Helium dissolves worse in human blood than nitrogen, therefore large volumes of gas are used in breathing mixtures when working under high pressure – mainly during deep-sea diving, when building engineering underwater structures. This allows divers to get rid of the possible painful consequences of decompression and the onset of decompression sickness, i.e. blockage of blood vessels due to a sharp change in pressure. These manifestations are caused by the property of nitrogen dissolved in the body, in the case of a decrease in pressure, it sharply increases in volume. Today, a special gas mixture is being prepared for divers, in which helium, which is ignored by the body, is represented instead of nitrogen.

* Valuable gel raw materials are used in metallurgy in the form of an inert gas when smelting highly pure metals.

* Helium in the form of packing gas and propellant is widely used in the food industry, where it is registered as a food additive E939.

* In medicine, the He-O2 mixture, due to its low viscosity, is used to treat diseases of the respiratory tract (including relieving asthma attacks).

* The inert property of gas allows it to be used in arc welding of valuable alloys.

* Helium is used in the production of Si, Ti, Zr, Ge and in the cooling of nuclear reactors.

* The gas is effectively used in bearings as a helium lubricant, in spectroscopy, in high voltage switches, in neutron counters and other equipment.

* In the form of a gas mixture, the substance is used in the advertising business, in the form of a filler for gas-discharge tubes of outdoor neon advertising.

* Liquid helium effectively cools magnetic superconductors, particle accelerators and other similar devices.

* Using the quality of the refrigerant, the substance allows you to maintain temperatures below 0.005K, which is very important for many technological processes and scientific research.