Who buys Antimony?
Antimony products are widely used in many industries as a raw material. For example, it is used in steel industry to harden the steel, in glass and ceramic industry to colorize and strengthen the products, in tire industry, in the production of blast agency, in weapon industry, in dye industry, etc. As it can be realized easily, Antimony products are the base of many industries. The most important use of antimony in the U.S. is in chemicals used to impregnate plastics, textiles, rubber, and other materials as a flame retardant – that is, a form of fireproofing. This is required by federal law for certain children’s clothing. Over half the annual U.S. antimony consumption is for the manufacture of flame retardants. About 20% of U.S. consumption is in antimony alloys. Antimony is mixed (that is, alloyed) with other metals, such as lead, to make the lead harder and stronger for use in lead-acid batteries. On the other hand, some alloys such as Babbitt Metal (an alloy of antimony, tin, cop
