Pigments & Glazes

Zircon and Zirconium oxides are used as constituents in the manufacture of traditional ceramics. The major volume market is in the manufacture of opacifying glazes for ceramic items such as floor and wall tiles. These applications predominantly use zircon as a lower cost raw material however some specialist, high temperature enamels and glazes use zirconium oxide.

Zirconium oxide is used to prepare ceramics stains. The most common are Praseodymium yellow (ZrO2-Pr6O11-SiO2), Vanadium yellow (ZrO2-V2O5) and Turkey blue (ZrO2-V2O5-SiO2-Na2O). They are regarded as superior stains.