Our Elements Hf Hafnium
Menu

History of hafnium

How did our relationship with it begin and change?

Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy found hafnium in Copenhagen in 1923. It is named after the city. Industry began to separate it from zirconium in the 1950s, for nuclear reactors. Later, makers of superalloys for jet engines used it, and from 2007 chip makers used it too.

Last updated 14 October 2026.

Discovery and name

Chemists looked for element 72 for years. In 1911, Georges Urbain said that he had found it, but he was wrong1.

Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy found it in 1923 at the University of Copenhagen, in a Norwegian zircon1. They reported it in Nature on 20 January 1923. They wrote that X-ray spectroscopy was the best method to find unknown elements2.

Some zirconium minerals had as much as 5% hafnium. So the accepted atomic weight of zirconium was wrong1. Chemists made the first pure hafnium in 19251.

The name comes from Hafnia, the Latin name for Copenhagen1.

How our use changed

Hafnium became an industrial metal because of nuclear reactors. US commercial production began in 1952 at a pilot plant of the US Bureau of Mines3. Reactors need zirconium without hafnium, and the hafnium goes into control rods4.

Later, superalloys became the main use. Anthony Lipmann wrote in 2012 that control rods were in decline and superalloys were dominant5. By his account, no hafnium was traded from East to West before 19915.

In 2007, Intel began to sell processors with hafnium in their transistors. The company quoted its co-founder Gordon Moore, who called the change the biggest transistor advance in 40 years6. Demand from chips and aircraft grew together after 2020. Prices reached records in 2023 and again in 2026 (see market).

1900s

  1. 1911

    Science

    Georges Urbain reports that he has found element 72. The claim is wrong. 1

  2. 1923

    Science

    Dirk Coster and George de Hevesy find element 72 in a Norwegian zircon, at the University of Copenhagen. They report it in Nature in January. 1

  3. 1925

    Science

    Chemists make the first pure hafnium. They decompose hafnium tetraiodide on a hot tungsten wire. 1

  4. 1952

    Industry

    US commercial production of hafnium starts. A US Bureau of Mines pilot plant uses a new method to separate hafnium from zirconium. 3

  5. 1959

    Trade

    The USGS price series begins. US hafnium sponge has a unit value of about $88 per kg. 3

  6. c. 1970

    Science

    Physicists find hafnium-178m2, a long-lived excited state of the hafnium nucleus, in the hafnium cladding of a nuclear reactor. 7

  7. c. 1991

    Trade

    The trader Anthony Lipmann writes that no hafnium was traded from East to West before 1991. 5

  8. 1999

    Science

    A group led by Carl Collins starts to report that X-rays can release the energy stored in hafnium-178m2. 7

2000s

  1. 2004

    Law and policy

    The US defense research agency DARPA cuts its hafnium isomer budget of $30 million for two years by about half. A number of well-known nuclear physicists doubt the claims. 7

  2. 2007

    Industry

    Intel sells the first processors with a hafnium-based high-k metal gate in their transistors. 6

  3. 2009

    Trade

    The US unit value of imported hafnium doubles, from $225 per kg in 2008 to $472 per kg. 3

  4. 2022

    Trade

    Argus assesses 99% hafnium at $2,220 to $2,500 per kg in Rotterdam in November, up from just over $1,500 in early September. 8

  5. 2023

    Trade

    Argus assesses hafnium at $6,800 to $7,100 per kg, its highest price since the assessment began in 2015. 9

  6. 2023

    Law and policy

    A Chinese producer says that a hafnium exporter needs a permit from the Ministry of Commerce, and the buyer must give an end-use statement. 9

  7. 2023

    Law and policy

    Hafnium stays on the EU list of critical raw materials of 2023. 10

  8. 2024

    Law and policy

    The United Kingdom puts hafnium on its list of critical minerals. 11

  9. 2024

    Law and policy

    China issues an export control list for dual-use items in September. After it, Argus reports long delays to hafnium export licenses, and some licenses are revoked. 12

  10. 2025

    Law and policy

    Hafnium is on the US list of critical minerals of 2025. 13

  11. 2025

    Trade

    The US tariff on hafnium from China reaches 79% in April, up from 25% in January, after new US tariffs on Chinese goods. 12

  12. 2025

    Trade

    The Argus annual average price of unwrought hafnium falls to $3,800 per kg, from $6,130 in 2023. 14

  13. 2026

    Trade

    Public price quotes for hafnium pass $14,000 per kg in June, as reported by the consultancy OnG Commodities. 15

Sources

  1. 1

    Royal Society of Chemistry, 2026. Hafnium - Element information, properties and uses , Sections Uses and properties, Biological role, Natural abundance, History.

    Discovery, name, first pure metal, uses, biological role.

    • In 1911, Georges Urbain reported the discovery of the missing element below zirconium in the periodic table, but he was wrong and the search continued.
    • It was finally discovered by George Charles de Hevesy and Dirk Coster at the University of Copenhagen in 1923. It was found in a zirconium mineral, a Norwegian zircon
    • some were found to contain as much as five per cent of hafnium. (It meant the atomic weight of zirconium was wrong
    • The first pure sample of hafnium itself was made in 1925 by decomposing hafnium tetra-iodide over a hot tungsten wire.
    • The name is derived from the Latin name for Copenhagen, ‘Hafnia’
  2. 2

    D. Coster and G. Hevesy, Nature 111, 79, 1923. On the Missing Element of Atomic Number 72 , Article page and abstract.

    The first report of hafnium, found with X-ray spectroscopy.

    • Published: 20 January 1923 On the Missing Element of Atomic Number 72
    • for the eventual discovery of any unknown element X-ray spectroscopy, especially as it has been developed by Siegbahn, represents the most effective method
  3. 3

    U.S. Geological Survey (C.A. DiFrancesco, J.B. Hedrick, J. Gambogi, P.J. Loferski, G.M. Bedinger and E.S. Sangine), 2023. Hafnium statistics, in Historical Statistics for Mineral and Material Commodities in the United States (Data Series 140) , ds140-hafnium-2021.xlsx, columns 'Imports', 'Unit value ($/t)' and 'Unit value (98$/t)', and the embedded notes document.

    US unit value of hafnium from 1959 to 2021, US imports, and the start of US production in 1952.

    • U.S. hafnium commercial production started in 1952, with the former U.S. Bureau of Mines’ pilot plant utilizing new technology to separate hafnium from zirconium.
    • U.S. hafnium commercial production started in 1952, with the former U.S. Bureau of Mines' pilot plant utilizing new technology to separate hafnium from zirconium.
    • Unit value ($/t) ... 88200
    • Unit value ($/t) ... 225000 ... 472000
  4. 4

    U.S. Geological Survey (James V. Jones III, Nadine M. Piatak and George M. Bedinger), 2017. Zirconium and Hafnium, chapter V of Critical Mineral Resources of the United States (Professional Paper 1802) , Pp. V1-V26: summary, uses, supply and demand, geochemistry, deposit types, environmental considerations, health.

    Crustal abundance, the zirconium to hafnium ratio, separation, uses, recycling, toxicity and the environment.

    • For nuclear-grade applications, the metals must be separated because of their different neutron absorption characteristics.
    • Hafnium has a relatively high thermal neutron absorption cross section and thus is used in nuclear control rods.
  5. 5

    Anthony Lipmann, Lipmann Walton & Co (metal trader), 2012. Hafnium Supply-Demand – MMTA – Brief Metal Statistics .

    A trader's account of hafnium supply, crystal bar production, uses and trade, written in 2012 and updated in 2020.

    • Hafnium’s historic use for control rods within nuclear plant and equipment (for repelling neutrons), is in decline
    • Hafnium’s dominant application in the modern world is not for nuclear but for super alloys
    • No Hafnium was traded East to West before 1991.
  6. 6

    Intel Corporation, 2007. Intel Launches Hafnium-based 45nm Processors (press release) .

    The first processors with a hafnium-based high-k metal gate.

    • Called the biggest transistor advancements in 40 years by Intel Co-Founder Gordon Moore
    • the processors are the first to use Intel's Hafnium-based high-k metal gate (Hi-k) formula for the hundreds of millions of transistors inside these processors
  7. 7

    Physics Today (Bertram M. Schwarzschild), 2004. Conflicting results on a long-lived nuclear isomer of hafnium have wider implications .

    The hafnium-178m2 isomer, the claims of a weapon, the doubts of physicists, and the DARPA budget cut.

    • was discovered in the 1970s, created inadvertently by neutron irradiation of a nuclear reactor’s Hf cladding
    • Since 1999, a collaboration led by Carl Collins (University of Texas at Dallas) has been reporting evidence for the x-ray induced release of energy stored in an unusually long-lived nuclear isomer of hafnium-178.
    • DARPA cut its two-year $30 million Hf-isomer budget for fiscal years 2004 and 2005 roughly in half
  8. 8

    Argus Media, 2022. Hafnium prices surge as supply concerns build .

    Hafnium prices in 2022, the industry estimate of world supply, producing countries, US duty on Chinese material.

    • $2,220-2,500/kg in warehouse Rotterdam on 8 November ... in early September, the assessment stood at just over $1,500/kg
  9. 9

    Argus Media, 2023. Limited supply, higher demand bolster China's Hf prices .

    The record hafnium price of July 2023, Chinese supply, export permits and a plant stopped by environmental inspections.

    • The current price is the highest since Argus launched this assessment in 2015.
    • as doing so requires a permit from the country's ministry of commerce and international buyers must provide an end-use statement
  10. 10

    European Commission, 2026. Critical raw materials , Fifth list 2023 of critical raw materials.

    The EU list of 34 critical raw materials (fifth list, 2023) and the strategic raw materials.

    • Bismuth Hafnium Niobium Titanium metal
  11. 11

    UK Critical Minerals Intelligence Centre, British Geological Survey, 2024. UK 2024 Criticality Assessment , Table 1 (criticality results); appendix tables of end uses (Hafnium, SCRREEN 2023), end-of-life recycling rates (Hafnium) and the recycling indicator.

    The UK critical minerals list of 2024, with end uses and end-of-life recycling rates.

    • Hafnium (Hf) 3.5 4.6 4 Critical Not assessed
  12. 12

    Argus Media (Cristina Belda), 2025. Fresh concerns over the US' 80pc tariff on hafnium .

    The US tariff on hafnium from China in April 2025, Chinese export licences after September 2024, and the four producing countries.

    • Since China issued an export control list for dual-use items in September 2024, there have been extensive delays to the export license approvals process for hafnium.
    • Hafnium now faces a 79pc tariff, up from 25pc, after multiple increases since Trump took office in January.
  13. 13

    U.S. Geological Survey (Federal Register vol. 90, no. 214), 2025. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals , Table 1 of the final list.

    The 60 minerals on the final 2025 US list of critical minerals.

    • Graphite ... Hafnium ... Holmium
  14. 14

    U.S. Geological Survey (Shelby N. Johnston), 2026. Zirconium and Hafnium, in Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 , Pp. 1-2: production and use, salient statistics (hafnium rows), events, world production and reserves, resources, substitutes, footnote 6.

    Hafnium prices from 2021 to 2025, US trade in hafnium, import sources, recycling, substitutes, and the statement that world data are not available.

    • Hafnium, unwrought,6 dollars per kilogram ... 6,130 ... 4,560 ... 3,800
  15. 15

    Andrew Matheson and Patrick Stratton, OnG Commodities LLC, in The Crucible (Minor Metals Trade Association), 2026. Hafnium – Where will it end? .

    A consultancy's view of the hafnium market in 2026: prices, supply estimate, Western processors, uses, and its forecast. Published 7 August 2026.

    • Hafnium prices are at previously unheard-of levels, with public quotes (e.g. Argus, June 2026) crossing $14,000/kg.