Rationale

Element 41 in the Periodic Table of Elements has been associated with the names Columbium and Niobium throughout the 19th and 20th century. Historically the USA used the name Columbium and other parts of the world used the name Niobium. In 1950 the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) adopted the name Niobium, which over the past 75 years has become the most common reference internationally. In the USA, the last paper published by the American Chemical Society referencing the name Columbium was in 1953. In response to ongoing negative votes and comments on steel sheet specification ballot items, ASTM subcommittees A05.11 and A01.19 for metallic coated and non-metallic coated steel sheet, discussed and agreed to replace all references for Columbium with Niobium, and include the following footnote in the chemistry tables of all steel sheet specifications: "Columbium (Cb) is a legacy alternate name for Niobium (Nb) and both names refer to element 41 in the Periodic Table of Elements". To simplify this ballot item, only the affected sections of the subject specification are shown.