Iron and its compounds have numerous uses.  It is the most commonly used metal for commercial applications due to its hardness, historical availability, and low cost.  Once used on its own, it is now alloyed with carbon, nickel and other elements to produce steel and other high strength, non-corrosive, structural metals. Iron is a shiny, greyish metal that rusts in the damp air. Iron is an enigma – it rusts easily, yet it is the most important of all metals. 90% of all metal that is refined today is iron.  Iron is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust and the most common element by mass forming the planet earth as a whole. High Purity (99.999%) Iron (Fe) Sputtering TargetIt is also used as a catalyst. It is the basis for low grade magnets and, because of its magnetic properties, is used in memory tape and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Iron is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity).     Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes