Erbium powder is made from erbium metal ingot, including erbium metal by reduction method and distillation method, which is a kind of soft gray rare earth metals. Its reaction with air and water is very slow, which is not soluble in water, but solbule in acids. At high temperature Erbium metal could react with halogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, silicon, hydrogen and sulfur to form erbium iodide (ErI3) , erbium oxide (Er2O3), erbium nitride (ErN), erbium carbide (ErC2), erbium silicide (ErSi2),erbium fluoride, erbium hydride (ErH2) and erbium sulfide (Er2S3). Erbium metal is raw material for various erbium alloys too. Aluminum-erbium alloy is common. Other erbium alloys are available too, such as aluminium-magnesium-erbium alloys, aluminium-lithium-erbium alloys, aluminium-copper-erbium alloys, zirconium-erbium alloys and so on.
