Zirconium Particles

Both zirconium hydride and zirconium metal powders compact to fairly high densities at conventional pressures. During sintering the zirconium hydride decomposes and at the temperature of decomposition, zirconium particles start to bond. Sintered zirconium is ductile and can be worked without difficulty. Pure zirconium is seldom used in reactor engineering, but the powder is used in conjunction with uranium powder to form uranium—zirconium aUoys by soHd-state diffusion. These aUoys are important in reactor design because they change less under irradiation and are more resistant to corrosion. 

Zirconium particles in air are sensitive to ignition by static electricity. This sensitivity increases with decreasing particle size. When Zr particles are heated in air, reaction with oxygen occurs at their surface. This reaction proceeds very violently to produce high-temperature zirconium oxide. A large number of bright light streams are emitted from the particles when they come asunder. The reaction process is represented by... 

Combustion of Zirconium Particles Used in Solid Propellant Formulations , Vd H, ibid, 221-244 25) J.D. Martin et al, High Density... 

Fig. 14.8 Preventing the expansion of a crack by incorporating zirconium particles.

Fibre PRD-166 another polycrystalline continuous alumina fibre yam produced by DuPont in the 1980s. PRD-166 fibre yam is a modified form of FP fibre yam. The diameter of this fibre filament is 20 pm. The modification of FP fibre is made by incorporating 15-20 wt% yttria-stabilized zirconium particles. The idea of incorporating Y203-stabilized zirconia particles was to take care of problems such as unstable mechanical... 

Fig. I V.3. Adhesion of zirconium particles to cadmium sulfide surface (1) in the dark (2) with brief exposure to light (3) with steady, long-term exposure to light.

Figure 8.21 The burn rate of Zr/PTFE/Viton pyrolant with 12wt% Viton and 9 and 4 gm zirconium particles [11].

Exposure limits for siHcon carbide and powders of zirconium compounds (including zirconium dioxide) have been estabHshed by ACGIH. TLV—TWA s are 10 mg/m and 5 mg/m, respectively. OSHA guidelines for zirconium compounds call for a PEL of 5 mg/m. There are no exposure limits for siHcon nitride powder, but pmdent practice suggests a TLV—TWA of 0.1 mg/m. The soHd ceramics present no apparent health hazard. In machining such ceramics, however, care should be taken to prevent inhalation of respirable particles in amounts in excess of estabHshed limits. Disposal should be in approved landfills the materials are inert and should pose no danger to the environment. 

Tin reacts completely with fluorine above 190°C to form tin tetrafluoride [7783-62-2] SnF. Titanium reacts appreciably above 150°C at a rate dependent on the size of the particles the conversion to titanium tetrafluoride [7783-63-3] TiF, is complete above 200°C. Fluorine reacts with zirconium metal above 190°C. However, the formation of a coating of zirconium tetrafluoride [7783-64 ] ZrF, prevents complete conversion, the reaction reaching... 

Another important class of titanates that can be produced by hydrothermal synthesis processes are those in the lead zirconate—lead titanate (PZT) family. These piezoelectric materials are widely used in manufacture of ultrasonic transducers, sensors, and minia ture actuators. The electrical properties of these materials are derived from the formation of a homogeneous soHd solution of the oxide end members. The process consists of preparing a coprecipitated titanium—zirconium hydroxide gel. The gel reacts with lead oxide in water to form crystalline PZT particles having an average size of about 1 ]lni (Eig. 3b). A process has been developed at BatteUe (Columbus, Ohio) to the pilot-scale level (5-kg/h). 

Condensation of metal vapors followed by deposition on cooler surfaces yields metal powders as does decomposition of metal hydrides. Vacuum treatment of metal hydrides gives powders of fine particle size. Reaction of a metal haHde and molten magnesium, known as the KroU process, is used for titanium and zirconium. This results in a sponge-like product. 

The gels precipitated as described above are not useful in ion-exchange systems because their fine size impedes fluid flow and allows particulate entrainment. Controlled larger-sized particles of zirconium phosphate are obtained by first producing the desired particle size zirconium hydrous oxide by sol—gel techniques or by controlled precipitation of zirconium basic sulfate. These active, very slightly soluble compounds are then slurried in phosphoric acid to produce zirconium bis (monohydrogen phosphate) and subsequently sodium zirconium hydrogen phosphate pentahydrate with the desired hydrauhc characteristics (213,214). 

Extraction of Bertrandite. Bertrandite-containing tuff from the Spor Mountain deposits is wet milled to provide a thixotropic, pumpable slurry of below 840 p.m (—20 mesh) particles. This slurry is leached with sulfuric acid at temperatures near the boiling point. The resulting beryUium sulfate [13510-49-1] solution is separated from unreacted soflds by countercurrent decantation thickener operations. The solution contains 0.4—0.7 g/L Be, 4.7 g/L Al, 3—5 g/L Mg, and 1.5 g/L Fe, plus minor impurities including uranium [7440-61-1/, rare earths, zirconium [7440-67-7] titanium [7440-32-6] and zinc [7440-66-6]. Water conservation practices are essential in semiarid Utah, so the wash water introduced in the countercurrent decantation separation of beryUium solutions from soflds is utilized in the wet milling operation. 

Zirconium carbide is a highly refractory compound with excellent properties but, unlike titanium carbide, it has found only limited industrial importance except as coating for atomic-fuel particles (thoria and urania) for nuclear-fission power plants.l " ] This lack of applications may be due to its high price and difficulty in obtaining it free of impurities. 

A particulate gel breaker for acid fracturing for gels crosslinked with titanium or zirconium compounds is composed of complexing materials such as fluoride, phosphate, sulfate anions, and multicarboxylated compounds. The particles are coated with a water-insoluble resin coating, which reduces the rate of release of the breaker materials of the particles so that the viscosity of the gel is reduced at a retarded rate [205]. 

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