Zirconium

The zirconium-containing mineral zircon and related minerals (jargoon, hyacinth, jacinth, ligure) were mentioned in biblical writings but the mineral was not known to contain a new element until 1789 when Martin Heinrich Klaproth analyzed a jargoon from the island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Zirconium metal was first obtained in an impure form in 1824 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius by heating a mixture of potassium and potassium zirconium fluoride in an iron tube.

The crystal bar process (also known as the Iodide Process), discovered in 1925, was the first industrial process for the commercial production of metallic zirconium. It involves the formation and subsequent thermal decomposition of zirconium tetraiodide, and was superseded in 1945 by the much cheaper Kroll process in which zirconium tetrachloride is reduced by magnesium.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES

A small fraction of zircon is converted to the metal, which finds various niche applications because of its excellent resistance to corrosion. It is a lustrous, grey-white, strong transition metal that closely resembles hafnium and, to a lesser extent, titanium.

SHOP ZIRCONIUM PRODUCTS

Zirconium Bolt Action Pen
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Zirconium Side Click Pen
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Zirconium Slim Bolt Action Pen
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Zirconium Pencil
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