Zirconium is a silvery white transition metal, the surface is easy to form a layer of oxide film, with luster, so the appearance is similar to steel, corrosion resistance, but soluble in hydrofluoric acid and aqua regia; At high temperature, it can react with non-metallic elements and many metallic elements to form solid solution compounds. Zirconium has good plasticity and is easy to be processed into plates and wires. Zirconium can absorb a lot of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and other gases when heated, and can be used as hydrogen storage material. The corrosion resistance of zirconium is better than that of titanium, close to niobium and tantalum.
Zirconium is used in a wide range of fields, zirconium only accounts for 3%~4% of the metal, mainly in the form of zirconium silicate, zirconium oxide used in ceramics, refractories and other fields, this part of the application of zirconium consumption of more than 90%. In addition, because of its excellent nuclear properties, zirconium has a small thermal neutron absorption cross section, only 0.18×10-28. One of the important applications of zirconium and its alloys is as fuel coating material and other structural materials in nuclear power reactors. Therefore, the research and development of zirconium and zirconium alloys is closely related to the development of the nuclear industry, first for nuclear-powered ships and later for the development of nuclear power stations.
Zirconium is an active metal with a high affinity for oxygen. This results in the formation of protective oxide films at room temperature in the air. This protective oxide film gives zirconium and its alloys excellent corrosion resistance. Zirconium with excellent corrosion resistance has strong resistance to many sheet erosion media, and at the same time has good mechanical and heat transfer properties, as well as significant cost advantages, making it an excellent corrosion resistant structural material in today's petrochemical field.
Industrial zirconium is widely used in all kinds of corrosion resistant process equipment, mainly used in pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pipes, troughs, shafts, mixers and other mechanical equipment as well as valves, pumps, sprayers, trays, demists and tower linings. According to some estimates, only a few are processed in the form of the metal zirconium (or zirconium sponge), which is further processed into zirconium alloys for use in nuclear fuel assemblies or in the general industry. From the processing difficulty level, technology and other aspects, zirconium metal industry chain is the most high-end.
