Why is helium so important?

Helium, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic inert monatomic gas, is found in extremely small quantities on Earth and is a non-renewable rare gas resource. Helium is the gas with the lowest boiling point on Earth, at minus 268.9°C. It plays a key role in the fields of superconducting materials and refrigeration. It can maintain the magnetism of superconducting magnets and ensure accurate imaging of magnetic resonance imaging equipment to diagnose brain tumors, strokes, spinal cord injuries, liver diseases and cancer. It can also maintain the stable operation of large particle accelerators and is used for the study of material structure. Astronomers also use liquid helium to cool detection instruments to avoid interference from thermal noise and to more accurately receive messages from distant galaxies.

Helium is extremely inactive chemically and hardly reacts with any substance. It can be used as a protective gas in atomic reactors and accelerators, lasers, smelting and welding, and is also indispensable in the fields of airtightness inspection of high-end equipment, space launches and airships. Helium is very light, non-toxic, non-flammable, and difficult to dissolve in water. Helium can be added to oxygen to treat asthma and suffocation, and to prevent "decompression sickness" that is very likely to occur in divers during the ascent process; helium can also dilute flammable anesthetics; it can also be used in argon-helium knives to treat cancer.

In addition, helium has excellent thermal conductivity, which makes it a necessity in the semiconductor industry. Helium can be used to control the heat transfer rate to achieve rapid heat conduction in the semiconductor chip component manufacturing process, improve productivity and reduce defects. Therefore, helium is a very important strategic resource.

Helium is also a strategic resource related to national security and economic lifeline, and plays an irreplaceable role in many fields. The largest amount of helium is used in the fields of semiconductors, liquid crystal displays and optical fibers in high-end equipment manufacturing, followed by medical nuclear magnetic resonance imaging and low-temperature superconducting equipment, airtightness inspection of high-end equipment, and superfluid material preparation.