Argon - the noble protector

It's colourless, tasteless, odourless, inert, and very useful. For applications ranging from light bulbs to the growing of single silicon crystals for the semiconductor industry, argon is essential. Argon is also increasingly used in modified atmosphere packaging of foods and as an insulator in double-glazing. But it is for its metals applications that argon really shines. Argon is widely used in metals production, processing and fabrication where its role is nearly always to exclude atmospheric air from contact with metal alloys and metals - such as chromium, vanadium, silicon, titanium, aluminium and magnesium - that will either react with nitrogen contained in air, or take nitrogen into solution.

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