Zirconium for use in jewelry. Zirconia is a component in some abrasives, such as grinding wheels and sandpaper. A small fraction of the zircon is converted to the metal, which finds various niche applications. Because of zirconium's excellent resistance to corrosion, it is often used as an alloying agent in materials that are exposed to aggressive environments, such as surgical appliances, light filaments, and watch cases. The high reactivity of zirconium with oxygen at high temperatures is exploited in some specialised applications such as explosive primers and as getters in vacuum tubes. The same property is (probably) the purpose of including
Ceria-zirconia Ceria-zirconia Ceria-zirconia is the name given to a solid solution of cerium (IV) oxide CeO (ceria) and zirconium oxide ZrO (zirconia). The crystal structure adopted by ceria-zirconia depends on the Zr/Ce ratio and temperature. At very low Zr concentrations, ceria-zirconia exhibits the cubic fluorite structure, which is common to both pure ceria and cubic zirconia. However, at higher Zr contents, other crystal structures are formed, including two different tetragonal phases at intermediate Zr concentrations, and a monoclinic phase at very high Zr concentrations. There is both experimental and theoretical evidence showing that the decomposition of ceria-zirconia into Ce-rich and Zr-rich