Zircon sand, also known as zircon sand and zircon stone, is a mineral mainly composed of zircon silicate. Pure zircon sand is a colorless transparent crystal, which is often dyed yellow, orange, red, brown and other colors due to different origins, different types and quantities of impurities. The crystal structure belongs to the tetragonal system and is in the shape of a square pyramid. The specific gravity is 4.6-4.71. The change in specific gravity is sometimes related to the composition and alteration state. Zircon cleavage is incomplete, the uniform Mohs hardness is 7-8, the refractive index is 1.93-2.01, and the melting point fluctuates between 2190 and 2420℃ depending on the impurities contained.

Zircon sand is a mineral mainly composed of zircon, silicon and oxygen crystallized from magma during the formation of igneous rocks. Zircon is also produced in dykes and metamorphic rocks. It belongs to the tetragonal system and is often in the form of well-developed small pyramidal square prisms, and also in irregular granular form. It is brittle and has a shell-like fracture. It is a high-quality refractory material. It is mostly found in the seaside sand with ilmenite, rutile, monazite, xenotime, etc., and is obtained after separation by water separation, electric separation, magnetic separation and other mineral separation processes.

PRODUCT USE

Zircon sand (zircon) is extremely resistant to high temperatures, with a melting point of 2750 degrees Celsius. It is also resistant to acid corrosion. 80% of the world's zircon sand is directly used in the foundry industry, ceramics, glass industry and the manufacture of refractory materials. A small amount is used in ferroalloys, medicine, paint, leather making, abrasives, chemicals and nuclear industries. A very small amount is used to smelt metal zirconium.

Zircon sand containing 65-66% ZrO2 is directly used as a casting material for iron metal in foundries due to its refractory properties (melting point above 2500℃).

Zircon sand (zircon) is used for refractory materials (called zircon refractory materials, such as zirconium corundum bricks, zircon refractory fibers), foundry sand for castings (precision casting sand), precision enamelware, and also for the production of glass, metal (sponge zirconium) and zirconium compounds (zirconium dioxide, zirconium oxychloride, sodium zirconate, potassium fluorozirconate, zirconium sulfate, etc.). It can be used to make zircon bricks for glass kilns, zircon bricks for steel ladle, ramming materials and castables; adding to other materials can improve their properties, such as adding zircon sand to synthetic cordierite can broaden the sintering range of cordierite without affecting its thermal shock stability; adding zircon sand to high-alumina bricks can make anti-stripping high-alumina bricks, and the thermal shock stability is greatly improved; it can also be used to extract ZrO2. Zircon sand can be used as high-quality raw sand for casting, and zircon sand powder is the main component of casting coatings.