Zirconium is used for steel alloys and colored glazes. It is not effected by the bombardment of neutrons, so it is used as an inner lining in nuclear reactors. Zirconium compounds are used for bricks, ceramics and abrasives, flashbulbs, explosive primers, lamp filaments and artificial gemstones.
It is super conductive at low temperatures and is used in superconducting magnets. It is also used in deodorants. Rock brought back from the moon was found to have a surprisingly high zirconium content.
Down here on Earth zircons has shown that life might have started much earlier than once thought. These were found in Australia in the year were 4. In the Middle Ages colourless gemstones of zircon were thought to be an inferior kind of diamond, but that was shown to be wrong when a German chemist, Martin Klaproth , analysed one in and discovered zirconium. Klaproth was unable to isolate the metal itself. Today this element is widely used, as zircon, as Zirconium oxide and as the metal itself.
Zirconium is to be found in ceramics, foundry equipment, glass, chemicals, and metal alloys. Zircon sand is used for heat-resistant linings for furnaces, for giant ladles for molten metal, and to make foundry moulds. Mixed with vanadium or praseodymium zircon makes blue and yellow pigments for glazing pottery and tiles. Zirconium oxide is used to make heat resistant crucibles, ceramics and abrasives. A red-hot crucible made from it can be plunged into cold water without cracking.
Zirconium oxide is to be found in ultra-strong ceramics that are stronger and sharper even than toughened steel and are used for knives, scissors and golf irons. Production of pure zirconium oxide is almost 25 tons per year, and it also goes into various chemicals that end up as cosmetics, antiperspirants, food packaging, and even fake gems. The paper and packaging industry is finding zirconium compounds make good surface coatings because they have excellent water resistance and strength.
Equally important is their low toxicity. Zirconium metal has an oxidised surface which is both hard and impervious to chemical attack making it ideal not only for chemical plants but for body implants such as hip replacement joints. Zirconium-aluminium alloy is used for top of the range bicycle frames because it combines strength and lightness. Zirconium metal had some hidden assets which suddenly brought it to prominence in the late s; it was found to be the ideal metal for inside nuclear reactors and nuclear submarines.
It does not corrode at high temperatures, nor absorb neutrons to form radioactive isotopes. Even today the nuclear industry buys almost all of the metal that is produced and some nuclear reactors have more than kilometres of zirconium tubing. Zirconium is used to make the cladding for uranium oxide fuel elements. Finally, we have two zirconium materials with extreme properties, one which it displays when very cold, the other when it is heated to high temperatures. The first is a zirconium-niobium alloy which becomes superconducting below 35 Kelvin - o C in other words it will conduct electricity with no loss of energy.
The second is zirconium tungstate ZrW 2 O 8 which actually shrinks as you heat it up, at least until it reaches o C when it decomposes into the two metal oxides. John Emsley unlocking the secrets of element number 40, zirconium. And you can find out some more about John's favourite elements in a series he has written for the RSC's Education in Chemistry which is online at rsc.
Next time on Chemistry in its Element, life's a gas with Mark Peplow. Little did those humble cyanobacteria realize what they were doing when two and a half billion years ago, they started to build up their own reserves of energy-rich chemicals, by combining water and carbon dioxide. Powered by sunlight, they spent the next two billion years terraforming our entire planet with the waste product of their photosynthesis, a rather toxic gas called oxygen.
So join us next week for a breath of fresh air and the story of oxygen. I'm Chris Smith, thanks for listening, see you next time. Chemistry in its element is brought to you by the Royal Society of Chemistry and produced by thenakedscientists.
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We welcome your feedback. Data W. Haynes, ed. Version 1. Coursey, D. Schwab, J. Tsai, and R. Dragoset, Atomic Weights and Isotopic Compositions version 4. Periodic Table of Videos , accessed December Podcasts Produced by The Naked Scientists. Download our free Periodic Table app for mobile phones and tablets.
Explore all elements. D Dysprosium Dubnium Darmstadtium. E Europium Erbium Einsteinium. F Fluorine Francium Fermium Flerovium. G Gallium Germanium Gadolinium Gold. I Iron Indium Iodine Iridium. K Krypton. O Oxygen Osmium Oganesson.
U Uranium. V Vanadium. X Xenon. Y Yttrium Ytterbium. Z Zinc Zirconium. Membership Become a member Connect with others Supporting individuals Supporting organisations Manage my membership. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube. Discovery date. Discovered by. Martin Heinrich Klaproth. Origin of the name. The name is derived from the Arabic, 'zargun', meaning gold coloured.
Melting point. Boiling point. Atomic number. Relative atomic mass. Key isotopes. Electron configuration. CAS number. ChemSpider ID. ChemSpider is a free chemical structure database. Electronegativity Pauling scale. Common oxidation states. Atomic mass. Half life. Obtaining pure zirconium is very difficult because it is chemically similar to hafnium , an element which is always found mixed with deposits of zirconium. Zirconium is a corrosion resistant metal that is used in high performance pumps and valves.
Since it also does not easily absorb neutrons , zirconium is widely used in nuclear reactors. Zirconium is also used as an alloying agent in steel, to make some types of surgical equipment and as a getter, a material that combines with and removes trace gases from vacuum tubes.
Zircon ZrSiO 4 is a zirconium compound that can take many different forms, the most popular of which is a clear, transparent gemstone that can be cut to look like diamond and is frequently used in jewelry. Zirconium dioxide ZrO 2 can withstand very high temperatures and is used to make crucibles and to line the walls of high temperature furnaces.
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