| Physical Properties | Grayish-white porous mass; cubic crystalline structure; refractive index 1.810; vaporizes above 3,000°C; reacts with water forming strontium hydroxide, Sr(OH)2 with evolution of heat; miscible with fused caustic potash; slightly soluble in alcohol; insoluble in acetone and ether.
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| Uses | Strontium oxide is an alkaline earth flux that melts at 4406°F(2430°C), but the substance begins its fluxing action above 1994°F(1090°C). Strontium oxide's properties are difficult to describe, so it's often compared to other alkaline earth oxides like calcium and barium oxides. It has similarities to both. Strontium oxide has fluxing properties and a strong color response like barium oxide, although not as intense. It adds strength and durability to a glaze like calcium oxide and it melts very slowly, thus increasing the melting range of a glaze.
Strontium oxide is often substituted for toxic barium oxide. A typical substitution is 0.75 grams of Strontium carbonate for 1 gram barium carbonate; keep in mind that it won't produce the same color response as barium oxide.
Strontium has a moderate viscosity and surface tension and a moderate to high expansion and contraction rate that's similar to calcium oxide.It's not volatile at ceramic temperatures, is slightly soluble,and has no known toxicity.
A slightly soluble source of strontium oxide is strontium carbonate, which usually contains some CaO.
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| Preparation | Strontium oxide is prepared by thermal decomposition of strontium carbonate, hydroxide, or nitrate:
SrCO3 → SrO + CO2
Sr(OH)2 → SrO + H2O
Sr(NO3)2 → SrO + N2O5
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| Chemical Properties | white to grayish white; reacts with water, forming Sr(OH)2, with evolution of heat; enthalpy of fusion 75.00kJ/mol [MER06] [CRC10] |
| Physical properties | Strontium oxide
or strontia, SrO, is formed when Sr metal reacts with
oxygen:
2Sr＋ O2→2SrO
Burning strontium in air results in a mixture of strontium
oxide and strontium nitride. It also forms from the
decomposition of strontium carbonate SrCO3. It is
a strongly basic oxide. It reacts
with moisture forming the hydroxide and with carbon
dioxide in the air to form the carbonate. |
| Uses | SrO is also used in medicine, pyrotechnics, pigments, greases, soaps, and as a chemical intermediate. It is also produced as high-purity strontium oxide rotatable sputtering targets with the highest possible density and smallest possible average grain sizes for use in semiconductor, photovoltaic, and coating applications by chemical vapor deposition and physical vapor deposition and optical applications.One of the reasons why rare metals are restrained from wide use in production is their high cost. |
| Uses | Strontium oxide is used as a flux in the making of glass for television tubes in place of barium oxide [CAS: 1304-28-5] BaO. |
| Uses | manufacture of strontium salts. |
| Flammability and Explosibility | Notclassified |
