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
Cubic zirconia Swarovsi and ICT inc. By 1980 annual global production had reached 60 million carats (12 tonnes)and continued to increase with production reaching around 400 tpa in 1998. Because the natural form of cubic zirconia is so rare, all cubic zirconia used in jewelry has been synthesized, or created by humans. Currently the primary method of cubic zirconia synthesis employed by producers remains to be through the skull-melting method. This method was patented by Josep F. Wenckus and coworkers (1997). This is largely due to the process allowing for temperatures of over 3000 degrees to be achieved, lack of contact between