Zirconium tetrafluoride reactors.) Zirconium tetrafluoride Zirconium(IV) fluoride (ZrF) is an inorganic chemical compound. It is a component of ZBLAN fluoride glass. It is insoluble in water. It is the main component of fluorozirconate glasses. Three crystalline phases of ZrF have been reported, α (monoclinic), β (tetragonal, Pearson symbol tP40, space group P42/m, No 84) and γ (unknown structure). β and γ phases are unstable and irreversibly transform into the α phase at 400 °C. Zirconium fluoride is used as a zirconium source in oxygen-sensitive applications, e.g. metal production. Zirconium fluoride can be purified by distillation or sublimation. Conditions/substances to avoid are: moisture,
Zirconium and potassium zirconium fluoride in an iron tube. The "crystal bar process" (also known as the "Iodide Process"), discovered by Anton Eduard van Arkel and Jan Hendrik de Boer in 1925, was the first industrial process for the commercial production of metallic zirconium. It involves the formation and subsequent thermal decomposition of zirconium tetraiodide, and was superseded in 1945 by the much cheaper Kroll process developed by William Justin Kroll, in which zirconium tetrachloride is reduced by magnesium: Approximately 900,000 tonnes of zirconium ores were mined in 1995, mostly as zircon. Most zircon is used directly in high-temperature applications. This