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New Route for the Extraction of Crude Zirconia from Zircon
Author(s) -
Welham Nicholas J.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of the american ceramic society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 196
eISSN - 1551-2916
pISSN - 0002-7820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1151-2916.2002.tb00438.x
Subject(s) - leaching (pedology) , materials science , crystallization , cubic zirconia , zircon , magnesium , solubility , chemical engineering , metallurgy , oxide , nuclear chemistry , mineralogy , chemistry , geology , organic chemistry , ceramic , soil science , engineering , soil water , paleontology
A commercial grade of zircon (ZrSiO 4 ) concentrate was mechanically milled with MgO for up to 100 h in a laboratory‐scale mill. The resultant powders were subjected to thermal processing, chemical leaching, and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). There was no direct evidence of reaction during the milling step, with no new phases evident from XRD. Leaching of the powder showed that a reaction had occurred, and increased solubility with milling time was attributed to the formation of a nanostructured Mg‐Zr‐Si oxide, which dissolved congruently. Heating the powders resulted in a number of thermal events, including the formation/crystallization of ZrO 2 and Mg 2 SiO 4 . Thermal treatment of the milled powders allowed selective chemical leaching of the magnesium and silicon, leaving a powder containing ∼90% ZrO 2 .