3 Manufacturing Methods of Zirconium-containing Refractories

What is Zirconium-containing Refractory Material?

Zirconium-containing refractory materials are made of zirconia (ZrO2) and zircon (ZrSiO4) as raw materials. “Zirconium-containing” usually refers to materials containing the following zirconium products: zirconia, zircon, zirconium mullite and zirconium corundum. Zirconium-containing products have good corrosion resistance to various molten metals, acidic reagents and liquid glass.

Zirconium-containing refractory materials can be divided into the sintered, fused cast, and non-fired products based on different manufacturing methods.

What are the Different Manufacturing Methods?

Sintered Zr-Containing Refractory Product

The basic steps to manufacture zirconium-containing sintered bricks are to prepare raw materials, press green bodies, and sinter at high temperatures.

Another method is to obtain blanks by granulation, kneading, machine pressing or extrusion molding, and the clinker fired at high temperature is used as aggregate, and the clinker fine powder is used for batching, kneading, molding, drying, and sintering to finally obtain the finished product.

Cast Zr-Containing Refractory Product

1) Use zircon concentrate or industrial zirconia and industrial alumina powder as raw materials.

2) Add sodium oxide, calcium oxide, boron oxide and rare earth metal oxides as additives.

3) The powder is melted at a temperature above 2500°C by means of electric arc melting, cast in a mold, cooled, annealed, and machined.

Non-fired Zr-Containing Refractory Product

The manufacturing process of zirconium-containing refractory products without firing is simple, and the product qualification rate is high.

1) Use stabilized zirconia clinker or zircon as raw material.

2) Use water glass, phosphoric acid, phosphate, or sulfate as the cementing agent.

3) Mix the raw materials and cementing agents, and undergo high-pressure molding and low-temperature heat treatment to make zirconium-containing non-fired materials.

The heat treatment temperature varies with different binders. When aluminum dihydrogen phosphate is used as the cement, the heat treatment temperature is about 300°C; when phosphoric acid is used as the cement, the heat treatment is carried out at a temperature of about 600°C.

What Are These Products Used for?

Zirconium-containing refractory products can be widely used in metallurgy, building materials, the chemical industry, machinery and other professional fields due to their high refractoriness, mechanical strength and chemical stability.

  • Zirconia bricks can be used in thermal equipment in the building materials industry and metallurgical industry, such as billet continuous casting sizing nozzles, submerged nozzles and slag lines in long nozzles.
  • Zircon bricks are resistant to low-alkali glass corrosion. They can be used for the kiln wall of the glass melting furnace, as well as the arch feet of the upper structure of the glass melting furnace or the intermediate transition layer between silica bricks and corundum bricks.
  • Zirconia-mullite fused cast bricks can be used in heating furnaces, soaking furnaces in the metallurgical industry, glass melting furnaces in the building materials industry, etc.
  • Zirconium corundum bricks have good resistance to melt erosion. As a high-grade abrasive, it has a good grinding effect on steel, cast iron, heat-resistant steel, and various alloy materials.

If you want to know more about zirconium material, we would like to advise you to visit Stanford Advanced Materials (SAM) for more information.

 

10 Common Zirconium Products and Their Applications

1. Zirconium Silicate

Zirconium silicate is an important variety in traditional zirconium products. The product is made of zircon sand, which can be obtained after grinding, calcining and powdering. It is a high-quality and cheap opacifying agent for ceramic glazes.

Zirconium silicate is mainly used for color glazes of architectural ceramics, daily-use ceramics and electric porcelain. It is also widely used in high-grade refractory materials, precision casting, emulsified glass and other industries.

2. Zirconium Carbonate

Zirconium carbonate is a source of zirconium that is insoluble in water but is easily transformed into other zirconium compounds. It is mainly used as an additive for cosmetics, waterproofing agent, flame retardant, opacifying agent, and surface aid for fibers and paper, and can also be used to prepare zirconium-cerium composite catalytic materials. It is an important raw material in the textile, papermaking, paint, and cosmetic industries, and its consumption has been increasing in recent years.

3. Zirconium Oxychloride

Zirconium oxychloride is the main raw material for the production of other zirconium products such as zirconium dioxide, zirconium carbonate, zirconium sulfate, composite zirconium oxide, and the separation of zirconium and hafnium to prepare metal zirconium and hafnium. In addition, it can be used in textiles, leather, rubber additives, metal surface treatment agents, paint drying agents, refractory materials, ceramics, catalysts, fire retardants, and other products. The primary source material for zirconium oxychloride is zircon sand.

4. Fused Zirconia

Fused zirconia is mainly used in the production of glazes and refractory materials. Due to the high content of impurities in fused zirconium, its use is sometimes limited.

5. Zirconium Sulfate

Zirconium sulfate is an intermediate raw material for the production of zirconium chemicals and metal zirconium and hafnium. It is also an important raw material for the production of leather tanning agents, wool treatment agents and paint surface oxidants. Additionally, it can be used as a catalyst carrier, amino acid and protein, precipitant and deodorant.

Consumption Structure of Zirconium Products
Consumption Structure of Zirconium Products

6. Zirconium Dioxide

Zirconium dioxide, or zirconia, is a non-toxic, odorless white solid. It has sufficient stability in alkaline solutions and many acidic solutions. ZrO2 ceramic is suitable for precision ceramics, electronic ceramics, optical lenses, glass additives, electrolytic zirconia bricks, ceramic pigments, enamel, artificial gemstones, refractory materials, grinding and polishing and other industries and products.

7. Composite Zirconia

Composite zirconia, referring to stabilized zirconia, is a non-toxic, odorless white powder. It has stable chemical properties and controllable specific surface area. It is the basic raw material for the manufacture of various special ceramics, advanced refractory materials, optical communication devices, and new energy materials.

8. Nuclear Grade Zirconium

Nuclear-grade zirconium is mainly used as the structural material of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, and civil power reactors, and the cladding of uranium fuel elements. It is an important strategic metal.

9. Industrial Grade Zirconium

Industrial-grade zirconium is mainly used in the production of chemical acid and alkali-resistant equipment, the military industry, the electronics industry, pipeline valve materials, special high-strength, and high-temperature alloy materials, and getters for electric vacuum and lighting bulb industries.

10. Metallurgical Grade Zirconium

Metallurgical grade zirconium is used as a firearms sponge zirconium combustion agent and is also suitable for alloy additives and metallurgical deoxidizers, the chemical industry, civilian flash fireworks, etc.