Zirconium rods are alloy tubular materials made of tungsten and other metals. Because of its excellent nuclear properties and corrosion resistance, zirconium rods are often used in nuclear fuel components and in-reactor structures of water-cooled reactors, and are important nuclear materials. Zirconium rods are mainly used to make chemical equipment.

Zirconium rod is a silver-white electroplating genus, the surface is easy to form oxide film, glossy, similar to steel appearance, corrosive. At high temperature, it can react with non-metallic elements and many metallic elements to generate solid solution compounds. The plasticity of zirconium rod is good, and it is easy to be processed into plates. It can be drawn into zirconium wire, and it can also be made into targets. When heated, tungsten can absorb a large amount of oxygen, H2, nitrogen and other gases, and be used as H2 storage materials. Zirconium has better corrosion resistance than titanium and is close to niobium and tantalum.

Zirconium occurs mainly in nature as a mineral, while tungsten in the earth's crust ranks 20th in errors, more than common metals such as copper, lead, nickel and zinc, but is called a rare metal because the manufacturing process is more complex and cannot be easily extracted into the economy. In addition, of the more than 40 plutonium deposits discovered, only about 10 are of industrial value, and only two are quartz and tetrahedral for industrial production.

Zirconium has a wide range of applications. Zirconium accounts for about 3% ~ 4%, mainly in the form of zirconium silicate, zirconia used in ceramics, refractory materials, etc. Applications in this segment account for more than 90% of zirconium consumption. In addition, zirconium has excellent nuclear properties, so the thermal neutron absorption cross section is small, only 0.1810-28. One of the important uses of zirconium and its alloys is the fuel cover material and other structural materials for atomic reactors. Therefore, the research and development of zirconium and zirconium alloys is closely related to the development of the nuclear power industry, first for use in nuclear-powered ships and later actively for nuclear power plants.

Industrial zirconium rods are widely used in pressure vessels, heat exchangers, pipes, slots, shafts, mixers and other mechanical equipment, valves, pumps, sprayers, pallets, weapons, tower lining and other anti-corrosion process equipment. According to statistics, in the form of zirconium (or sponge zirconium) processing, reprocessing into zirconium alloy, suitable for nuclear fuel parts or industrial fields. In processing difficulty level, technology and other aspects, metal industry chain is at a good level.