Molybdenum has the characteristics of high purity, high temperature resistance and low vapor pressure, so that it is often used to manufacture heating elements and structural materials of high-temperature vacuum furnaces.

In the production process of tungsten molybdenum and cemented carbide, most of them use molybdenum wire (foil) heating to make vacuum reduction furnace and vacuum sintering furnace. This type of high-temperature furnace is generally a reducing atmosphere or a non-oxidizing atmosphere, and molybdenum wire can be used to close to the melting point in hydrogen and decomposition ammonia, and up to 2000 °C in nitrogen. When used above 1700 °C, TZM alloy or molybdenum lanthanum alloy with higher recrystallization temperature and strength can be used as heating elements.

Molybdenum has good ablation resistance in molten quartz, used as an energized melting electrode in the glass industry, and only 7.8 grams are lost per ton of glass molybdenum electrode produced, and the service life can be as long as more than a year. In addition to being used as an electrode, molybdenum is also used as a high-temperature structural material for glass melting, such as guide troughs, tubes, crucibles, nozzles and stirring rods for rare earth smelting. Molybdenum instead of platinum is used in glass fiber drawing furnaces with good results, which greatly reduces production costs.

The nuclear fuel sintering furnace adopts molybdenum mesh heating, and is woven with ф0.8mm molybdenum wire into a three-phase mesh heater, and the working temperature can reach 1800-2000 °C. In addition, molybdenum and its alloys can also be used as heat isostatic pressing furnace frames, heat insulation screens, sintered and steamed material boats, SmCo magnets and uranium dioxide sintered pads, thermocouples and their protective sleeves.

Molybdenum is a refractory rare metal like tungsten. The melting point of molybdenum is 2620 °C, and due to the strong bonding force between atoms, it has high strength at room temperature and high temperature.

It is extremely difficult for molybdenum to lose seven or eight electrons. This determines that the chemical properties of molybdenum are relatively stable. Molybdenum is stable in air or water at room temperature or not too high temperature. Molybdenum is heated in the air, and the color begins to turn from white (color) to dark gray; When the temperature rises to 520 °C, molybdenum begins to be slowly oxidized to form Mo2O3; When the temperature rises above 600 °C, molybdenum is rapidly oxidized to MoO3. Molybdenum is heated to 700~800 °C in water vapor to begin to generate MoO2, which is further heated, and molybdenum dioxide is further oxidized to molybdenum trioxide. Molybdenum can spontaneously ignite in pure oxygen to generate molybdenum trioxide.

MoO2 decomposes into molybdenum and oxygen at 1980 °C ± 50 °C and 0.1MPa (inert gas).

Reaction with air At room temperature, molybdenum does not react with air or oxygen. At high temperature (red heat), molybdenum (VI) oxide MoO3 is formed. Molybdenum and hydrogen do not react with each other at very high temperatures, but react with nitrogen at 1500 °C to form molybdenum nitrides.