Niobium

Niobium
(Nb) Niobium is a Rare Metal with many practical applications in metallurgy and superconductor Research.
ID	Niobium
Type	Rare Resource
Chemical Symbol	Nb
Melting point	2476.85 °C / 4490.33 °F → Liquid Niobium
Strength	0.8
Hardness	50 (Very Firm)
Specific Heat Capacity	0.265 (DTU/g)/°C
Thermal Conductivity	54.000 (DTU/(m*s))/°C
Light Absorption	100%
Radiation Absorption	49%
Default Mass	30 kg
Max Mass	50 kg
Molar Mass	92.9 g/mol
Decor	+50%
Overheat Temperature	+500 °C
Properties	Metal Ore, Refined Metal, Generic Buildable, Solid, Rare Resource

Niobium is a Rare Refined Metal that can be acquired via space missions.

Production

The initial quantities of Niobium can be obtained from Space Destinations. The destination's content has to be revealed with Research Module first to uncover Niobium deposits there. After that Niobium can be recovered as any solid resource with a Cargo Bay. In each game there is only one planet (Superconductive Asteroid) which yields Niobium metal in the base game.

Niobium can be found as a low-mass mineable tile throughout the Superconductive Asteroid, surrounded by Obsidian and Magma, making its extraction challenging. A single Niobium Volcano can also be found on this asteroid, providing an infinite supply of the metal.

After the first batches of Thermium are produced it becomes possible to refine more Niobium from Thermium:

• Metal Refinery can produce more Niobium from Thermium in 1:1 proportion.

100 kg Thermium = 100 kg Niobium.

• Rock Crusher can produce Niobium and Sand from Thermium.

100 kg Thermium = 50 kg Niobium + 50 kg Sand.

Usage

The main usage of Niobium is to produce Thermium inside the Molecular Forge.

5 kg Niobium + 95 kg Tungsten = 100 kg Thermium.

Niobium increases the overheat temperature of buildings it was used to construct by 500°C and decor value by 50%. However, there is no strong reason to build anything with Niobium and not Thermium when Overheating bonus and Thermal Conductivity are considered, unless Tungsten supplies are low. There is an exception when using Niobium as decorative material because it equals to Gold but can be used as Metal Ore.

Tips

• Thermium can be converted into Niobium at 1:1 rate in the Metal Refinery. This is effectively converting 95 kg of Tungsten into Niobium. As such, only 5 kg of Niobium is required to bootstrap further conversion. Once this cycle is started, unless Niobium and Thermium are allowed to run out, the supply of the two is effectively only limited by the supply of Tungsten.