Developments in Zirconium

In the anticorrosion field the rise of zirconium has been remarkable, especially since the oxide zirconia was regarded for some years as the main industrial outlet as it became applied in furnace linings and in refractory crucibles. Zircon in precious stones was the sole use before this, yet a first move towards identifying zirconium came when Martin Klaproth, a most efficient analyst of his period, analysed zircon and noted the presence of a new element. While Humphry Davy failed to decompose zirconia during his work on electrolysis, Berzelius reduced a zirconium compound by reduction with potassium metal within a closed tube, thus preparing impure zirconium as a black powder.