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 a monopoly on the market from the 1870s to early 2000s. The company plead guilty to these charges in an Ohio court in 13 July 2004. However, De Beers and Co do not have as much power over the market, the price of diamonds continues to increase due to the increased demand in emerging markets such as India and China. Therefore, with the emergence of artificial stones, such as cubic zirconia, that have optic properties highly similar to that of diamonds (see section above), it has been presented that these could be a better alternative for jewelry buyers given their