Zirconium Silicate Zircon Flour 200 Mesh

Zircon Flour 200 Mesh or Zirconium silicate is extremely stable (refractory, hard, dense). Large quantities of zircon are used by the tile, sanitaryware and tableware industries.

Zircon is normally used in glazes for opacification (converting a transparent glaze to an opaque). The silicate form or zirconium does not matte glazes (like pure zirconium oxide does). The exact amount needed varies between different glaze types. 10-12% is normal, but up to 20% may be required to opacify some transparent glazes. When the saturation point is achieved crystallization begins to occur. It is most effective at low temperatures. Tin oxide can be a more effective opacifier than zircon (it has various advantages and disadvantages).

As a glaze opacifier the white colour produced by zirconium silicate is often characterized as 'toilet bowl white'. Tin oxide, by contrast can produce more of a blue-white, but tin is subject to alteration of the colour (toward pink) if there is any chrome in the kiln atmosphere (zircon is unaffected by this). If the shade of white is too harsh, it can be toned by shifting part of the opacification burden to tin or by adding a tiny amount of stain (e.g. blue, brown, grey).