Tantalum plates are almost all processed by cold working. Generally, starting from a tantalum ingot of 15-30cm, cold forging produces a slab of about 8-10m thickness, and then cold rolling starts from this slab, with a compression rate of over 95%. In commercial production, slab is usually rolled into 0.63-1.2cm thick plates with a width of 51-102cm using a two roll mill or a four roll mill. Representative rolling is carried out at or near room temperature to prevent the formation of oxides on the surface. When hot rolling is required, due to recrystallization, the temperature rises to 1000 ℃ and intense oxidation reactions occur.
Almost all thick plates are heat-treated and annealed in vacuum. Due to the absence of phase distortion, the speed of heating and cooling is not important. Further rolling with a regular rolling mill, usually using a 4-roll rolling mill and a multi roll rolling mill. Due to the softness of tantalum, attention should be paid to preventing scratches during processing and transportation.