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Helium
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#PS791
helium noblegases gaseoushelium compressedheliumgas liquifiedhelium
Main Product
Helium
Segment
Chemicals
Main-Family
Industrial Gases
Sub-Family
Noble Gases
Physical State

Gas

Description

Commercial helium is marketed in two primary forms — gaseous and liquid — each available across a range of purity grades defined by the number of nines of purity.

Purity Grade System

Helium grades follow the standard industrial gas notation where the grade number indicates purity: Grade X.Y = 99.Y…% pure, with X+Y total nines. For example, Grade 5.0 = 99.999% (five nines).

Grade Purity Common Name Principal Applications
6.0 99.9999% Ultra-pure / Research Semiconductor fabrication, gas chromatography, MRI, laser cutting, scientific research
5.5 99.9995% Ultra-pure / Research Chromatography, semiconductor processing, fiber optic manufacturing, lab research
5.0 99.999% High-purity Gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, weather balloons, laboratory research
4.8 99.998% High-purity industrial Military and aerospace applications
4.7 99.997% Industrial Grade A Cryogenics, pressurizing/purging, controlled atmospheres, diving mixtures, leak detection
4.6 99.996% Industrial Welding shielding, leak detection, weather balloons, rocket coolant, carrier gas
4.5 99.995% Industrial Balloon inflation, MRI push gas, general industrial use

 

Physical Forms

  • Compressed gaseous helium (GHe): Supplied in high-pressure cylinders (typically 200–300 bar), cylinder bundles, or tube trailers for larger volumes. The standard supply form for most industrial and laboratory uses.

  • Liquid helium (LHe): Supplied in cryogenic dewars (small volumes, typically 30–500 L) or cryogenic tankers (bulk supply). Required for superconducting magnet cooling (MRI, NMR, particle accelerators) and other deep cryogenic applications below ~20 K. LHe-4 boils at 4.222 K (−268.9°C) at 1 atm.

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Products Picture
Liquid helium container | Source: westair https://westairgases.com/blog/liquid-helium-applications/
  Product Communicator
Title Date
  UserPic Helium is one of the rarest recoverable resources on Earth 3/15/2026
Identifiers
logo CAS Number
7440-59-7
logo EC Number
231-168-5
logo ECHA InfoCard
100.028.334
logo IUPAC Name
Helium
logo PubChem ID
23987
Chemical Data
Chemical Formula

He

Molecular Weight (g/mol)
4.0026
Boiling Point (°C)
-268.93
Melting Point (°C)
-272.2
Sulfur Content (wt%)
0
Specific Gravity
0.14
Crude Data
API Gravity
893.86
Country
Product Settings
Default
Status
A
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Transaction Name Date
Modified by UserPic   Kokel, Nicolas 3/15/2026 4:08 PM
Added by UserPic   Kokel, Nicolas 3/14/2026 6:15 PM