It is widely distributed in the earth's crust in platinum and molybdenum ores and in many minerals, but is not abundant. In the United States rhenium is obtained commercially as a byproduct of the roasting of copper sulfide ores from Arizona and Utah. Rhenium metal is obtained as a powder by reduction of its compounds with hydrogen. The powder is compacted, sintered, annealed, and formed into wire, foil, rods, or strips. These alloys are used for electrical contacts, electronic filaments, and thermocouples and in photographic flash lamps.
Rhenium forms a superconductive alloy with molybdenum.
Rhenium is used as a catalyst for hydrogenation and petroleum cracking. Based on his periodic law , Mendelejeff predicted the existence of rhenium, which he called dvi-manganese. The accuracy of prediction of the properties of the element led to its discovery in 1925 by Walter Nodack, Ida Tacke, and Otto Berg in platinum ores and the mineral columbite. Listing from Electric Library , a pay service. No relevant pictures or maps found.