noun
- Plural of cryolite; a mineral consisting of sodium aluminum fluoride, used in the production of aluminum and as a flux in welding.
Usage: technical; mineralogy
Examples
- Cryolites are essential in the electrolytic reduction of aluminum ore.
- The mining of cryolites has been important to the aluminum industry for over a century.
- Greenland was historically a major source of natural cryolites.
- Modern aluminum production relies on synthetic cryolites rather than natural deposits.
- Cryolites lower the melting point of alumina in the smelting process.