zirconium oxide

noun

a white crystalline oxide; used in refractories and in insulation and abrasives and enamels and glazes

• Syn: ↑zirconia, ↑zirconium dioxide

• Hypernyms: ↑oxide

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noun or zirconium dioxide

: a refractory crystalline compound ZrO₂ that occurs in nature as baddeleyite, that is usually obtained as a heavy hard white insoluble powder by heating zircon with carbon in an arc furnace and burning the product in air, and that is used chiefly in refractories (as crucibles and cements), in thermal and electric insulation, in abrasives, in enamels and glazes as an opacifying pigment, and especially formerly in incandescent lamps because of its brilliant luminosity when heated — called also zirconia

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Chem. a white, heavy, amorphous, odorless and tasteless, infusible, water-insoluble powder, ZrO₂, used chiefly as a pigment for paints, an abrasive, and in the manufacture of refractory crucibles. Also called zirconia /zerr koh"nee euh/, zirconium dioxide.

[1865-70]

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zirconium oxide,

= zirconia. (Cf. ↑zirconia)