Status of the Beryllium Industry in the United States of America

The first industrial production of metal beryllium in the United States dates back to 1939 when the Brush Beryllium Co. established a small plant. The earlier activities connected with beryllium industry were however confined only to the sales of beryllium nitrate and beryllium oxide in minor quantities. In the 1930,s alloys of beryllium copper became the industry's main product and have so remained almost up to the present time. Sales of beryllium metal started to grow slowly in the early 1940's. The increasing demand for the metal, which in the following ten years fluctuated greatly, has now become more steady and has, particularly bduring the last 3-4 years, grown so rapidly that the dollar value of sales of beryllium metal in primary or fabricated form now is exceeding the dollar sales volume of beryllium copper alloys and fabricated alloy products.