Zirconium ingot

Calcium serves as a reductant for such reactive metals as zirconium, thorium, vanadium, and uranium. In zirconium reduction, zirconium fluoride is reacted with culcium metal. The high heat of the reaction melts the zirconium. The zirconium ingot resulting is remelted undet vacuum for purilicatinn. Thorium and uranium oxides are reduced with an excess of calcium in reactors or trays under an atmosphere of argon. The resulting tnetals are leached with acetic acid tu remove the lime. 

In addition to these principal alloying elements, which provide soHd solution strengthening and/or precipitation strengthening, wrought alloys may contain small amounts of titanium and boron [7440-42-8J, B, for control of ingot grain size, and ancillary additions of chromium, manganese, and zirconium to provide dispersoids. AH commercial alloys also contain iron and siUcon. 

Zirconium is a hard, shiny, ductile metal, similar to stainless steel in appearance. It can be hot-worked to form slabs, rods, and rounds from arc-melted ingot. Further cold-working of zirconium with intermediate annealings produces sheet, foil, bar wire, and tubing. Physical properties are given in Table 3. 

The most important commercial methods of production of metalhc zirconium and hafnium are based on furnace reduction, either of MCI4 with magnesium or a Na-Mg mixture (the KroU process), yielding a metal sponge, or of metal fluorides with Ca at 2000 °C to give an ingot. The... 

Ingots 15 mm in diameter and 80 mm in length (80-100 g weight) were arc-melted in a vacuum of 10 Pa. Iodine titanium, zirconium, technically pure aluminum and silicon were used as initial materials. 

Form Common name Sponge Zirconium sponge Ingots ... 

The production of ingots of various rare metals, is carried out commercially on the kilogram to the ton scale. This technique is particularly valuable for uranium and beryllium, but smaller quantities of, for example, zirconium, vanadium and thorium have also been manufactured. The fluorides are generally preferred to the chlorides since they are less volatile. Oxides do not result in molten slags unless large quantities of... 

Fortunately, Bettis Atomic Power Lab already had an active program of corrosion tests for a number of zirconium-based alloys. Included was one ingot in which a small amount of stainless steel had accidentally been added. Test results revealed the beneficial effects of iron, nickel, and chromium. Quickly, zircaloy-2, the Zr-1.5% Sn-0.12% Fe-0.1% Cr-0.05% Ni, was developed and specified for the Nautilus reactor in August 1952. That reactor generated power on December 30,1954. The Nautilus got imderway on January 17,1955. This marked the beginning of a new era. 

Ingots of zirconium and its alloys are most commonly 40 to 760 mm in diameter and weigh 1100 to 4500 kg. Wrought products are available in a variety of forms and sizes, such as sheet and strip, plate, foil, bar... 

The behaviour of zirconium is very similar to that of titanium. It is obtained in the same way, mainly as sponge, and is melted into ingots under vacuum. 

---