Corundum

From Lunarpedia
Revision as of 14:46, 6 February 2021 by Michel Lamontagne (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search

Corundum is the mineral of aluminum oxide (alumina) crystallized in a hard form. Ruby and sapphire are forms of corundum. Artificial Corundum could be made on the moon by purifying aluminum oxide, melting it, and recrystallizing it. Corundum is produced artificially by various growth methods from very pure molten alumina. at 2100C. It is useful as grit for abrasive machining of cast basalt, iron and steel Corundum can have a hardness of 9 Mohs.