The mineral zircon, a silicate of zirconium, occurs in Indian beach
sand deposits in association with other heavy minerals. Zircon is
separated from other heavy minerals following electrostatic,
magnetic and gra-ity separation techniques. Zirconia, an oxide of
zirconium, is produced mainly from zircon. High purity zirconia and
stabilised zirconia, due to their novel properties, are gaining
importance in high technological applications, competing with metals
and alloys. It is very important to produce high purity zirconia with
desired particle size and surface area for the development of zirconia
ceramics. The paper deals with the availability and processing of
zircon from beach sand deposits and also gives the details on the
zirconia research work being carried out in the R & D laboratory
of Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL). |