It is distributed sparsely and occurs in trace amounts in many minerals, such as: Thortveitite, Euxenite, and Gadolinite. Thortveitite can contain up to 45% of scandium in the form of Scandium (III) Oxide.
It does not react with a 1:1 mixture of Nitric Acid (HNO3) and 48% Hydrofluoric Acid (HF).
High Scandium Contents:
Thortveitite – (Sc,Y)2(Si2O7)
Kolbeckite – ScPO4.2H2O
Used in the strengthening of Aluminium Alloys with as little as 0.5% scandium.
An alloy called Al20Li20Mg10Sc20Ti30 has been shown to be as strong as titanium, light as aluminium, & hard as ceramic.
Scandium Iodide, along with sodium iodide, when added to a modified form of Mercury-Vapor lamp, produces a form of metal halide lamp. This lamp is a white light source with high color rendering index that sufficiently resembles sunlight.
