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
Zirconium carbide thermal chemical vapor deposition in a fluidized bed reactor. It also has high emissivity and high current capacity at elevated temperatures rendering it as a promising material for use in thermo-photovoltaic radiators and field emitter tips and arrays. It is also used as an abrasive, in cladding, in cermets, incandescent filaments and cutting tools. Zirconium carbide is made by carbo-thermal reduction of zirconia by graphite. Densified ZrC is made by sintering powder of ZrC at upwards of 2000 °C. Hot pressing of ZrC can bring down the sintering temperature and consequently helps in producing fine grained fully densified ZrC. Spark