This book starts with an extended introductory treatise on the fundamentals before moving on to a detailed description of the new methods of purification of transition metals and rare earth metals.

The production and availability of thirteen high-purity metals are discussed in this report. Information about the purest available polycrystalline and single crystal forms of each of the metals is presented. Also included is information about less pure forms of the metal, usually including a grade which might be defined as commercially pure. Some of the newer techniques for analyzing or characterizing the purity of the metals are discussed without including methods of chemical analyses. The thirteen metals covered by this report include the refractory metals molybdenum, tungsten, columbium, tantalum, and rhenium; special light metals, beryllium, and titanium and metals with an intermediate melting point, iron, nickel, chromium, vanadium, and zirconium. The semi-metal, boron, is the thirteenth element. Individual sections for each of the metals are presented in alphabetical order.