The quality criteria for zirconium oxide would be “ monoclinic single crystals >20mesh, containing 0.00% of any element other than Zr and O”.
There is an ambiguity with regard to Zr and Hf which always occur together in nature and the complete separation is extremely expensive. “Natural Zr” has multiple meanings. My post refers to as-mined Zr with 1-3% Hf.
The common name for “gem ZrO2” is ….is…..is….. OHHHHH. CUBIC zirconia.
Wikipedia entries for both “zirconium dioxide” and “cubic zirconia” have the details.
The thermodynamic fact of life is that gem ZrO2 will always have 8-30% Y2O3 (or MgO or CaO) to stabilize the cubic structure, regardless of exact details of manufacture.
FYI This material has been in use in EPMA labs since it became available in the late 1970’s. Many brands of commercial mounts have placed it into “minerals” selections for more than 4 decades.
The Kevex card shows that Zr and Hf and Y X-rays all overlap in EDS. One EPMA expert described gem ZrO2 as the “better than nothing” option for Zr. He found that every crucible load he bought had a different composition. And he only paid a generous fee-per-use for materials that came with validated chemical analyses.
For some of us the pandemic has brought financial hardship. Some are apparently doing OK. The deluge of offers because that open letter mentioned “millions of dollars” is inevitable. Having been through salesperson harassment, I would keep the lab door locked if it has a window to see who is knocking.
My last word of advice is use Wikipedia, for the fastest reliable first pass for the eyeballs BEFORE any cash is spent or instrument time is booked.
Please keep your software updated for best results!
