Zirconium is widely used

Zirconium is widely used

Zircon sand is the initial raw material for the production of zirconium products, which can be used to produce zirconium silicate and zirconium oxychloride. Zirconium oxychloride is the main raw material for the production of zirconium carbonate, zirconium sulfate, zirconium dioxide, composite zirconia, metal zirconium and other zirconium products, while composite zirconia is the main raw material for the production of zirconia structural ceramics.

Zirconium is widely used in ceramics, refractories and other fields, mainly in the form of zirconium silicate and zirconia, which accounts for more than 90% of zirconium consumption. In addition, due to the excellent nuclear properties of zirconium metal, its thermal neutron absorption cross section is only 0.18 × l0-28。 An important use of zirconium and its alloys is as fuel cladding materials and other structural materials for nuclear power reactors. Therefore, the research and development of zirconium and zirconium gold are closely related to the development of the nuclear industry, which was initially used for nuclear power ships, and later vigorously developed atomic power stations. Zirconium is an active metal with high affinity to oxygen, which leads to the formation of protective oxide film in air at room temperature. This protective oxide film makes zirconium and its alloys have excellent corrosion resistance. Zirconium with excellent corrosion resistance has strong resistance to many corrosive media, good mechanical and heat transfer properties, and significant cost advantages, making it an excellent corrosion resistant structural material in the petrochemical field. Industrial zirconium products are widely used in various corrosion-resistant process equipment, mainly including pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pipes, tanks, shafts, agitators and other mechanical equipment, as well as valves, pumps, spray, trays, demisters and tower linings.

According to statistics, only about 3% - 4% of zirconium is processed into metallic zirconium (or sponge zirconium), and then further processed into various zirconium alloys, which are used in nuclear fuel assemblies or general industrial fields. Zirconium metal products are at the top end of the industrial chain in terms of processing difficulty, process level, scientific and technological content, etc. The application fields of zirconium products are shown in the table below.

In order to facilitate coordination within the industry and government management, the zirconium industry in China is divided into five major industries according to professional characteristics, namely zircon sand mining, zirconium silicate (zircon powder) processing, chemical zirconium products production, fused zirconia production, zirconium smelting and processing

In the consumption structure of zirconium in China, ceramic accounts for 63.09%, chemical zirconium (excluding zirconium metal) accounts for 22.08%, fused zirconium accounts for 8.04%, and metal zirconium accounts for 3.63%.