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
Yttrium(III) oxide of such products these days. Yttrium oxide is used to stabilize the Zirconia in late-generation porcelain-free metal-free dental ceramics. This is a very hard ceramic used as a strong base material in some full ceramic restorations. The zirconia used in dentistry is zirconium oxide which has been stabilized with the addition of yttrium oxide. The full name of zirconia used in dentistry is "yttria-stabilized zirconia" or YSZ. Yttrium oxide is also used to make yttrium iron garnets, which are very effective microwave filters. YO is used to make the high temperature superconductor YBaCuO, known as "1-2-3" to indicate the ratio