Do you know? The ceramic materials are not limited to clay and porcelain long ago! Today, many ceramic materials are employed in high-end fields, such as semiconductor manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, and electronics industry. This article will explore the application of ceramic materials in various industries.
Uses of Ceramic Materials in Daily Life
Your first impression of ceramic materials may come from artifacts made by clay in the museum. In fact, until now, we still use ceramic materials in our daily life.
Traditional ceramic materials like clay are produced into many kinds of household items. Ceramic kitchenware provides good property of keeping heat, as well as easy to clean. While being practical, it might add some comfort to your life through its various appearance.
Have you ever noticed the tiles, toilet, and bathtub in your home? Most of sanitary ware are made of ceramic, because ceramic is easy to clean and waterproof. Dense and smooth surface makes it durable, preventing the reproduction of bacteria.
Not only that, to this day, ceramic decor has become an ordinary object that everyone can get. From the perspective of design, ceramic decorations like vases could bring a fresh twist to your home. They are almost compatible with almost every decorating style. Next time when you see a ceramic decor, you will have another idea of such little objects.
Examples of Ceramic Materials in Modern Industry
Many people are still not familiar with the cutting-edge applications of ceramic materials. Let’s dive into the different application of ceramic materials in diverse industries.
High-Temperature Industrial Fields
Have you ever wondered how industrial components that operates in high-temperature metallurgical kilns and glass furnaces year by year without deterioration? In high-temperature industries, ceramic materials have become key protective guardians. Excellent high-temperature resistance, superior thermal insulation, and stable chemical properties of ceramic materials lead to their widespread application.
Kilns linings and thermocouples protection tube are often made of alumina or silicon carbide ceramics. These materials can withstand extreme temperatures and reduce heat loss, helping equipment maintain a stable operating temperature. You can get extending equipment lifespan and improving production efficiency by using ceramic materials.
Application Examples of Thermocouple Protection TubesMechanical Manufacturing
In the extreme mechanical environment of high temperature, high pressure, and strong corrosion in pumps and valves, many materials will fall. If your industry deals with these conditions, you could try ceramic materials. As the “hard bones” in extreme environment, ceramic can easily handle these conditions.
The use of ceramic in extreme environment is because of their high strength and excellent resistance to harsh conditions. Ceramic bearing, seals, and cutting tools made of silicon carbide can improve the efficiency. They are durable enough to reduce the downtime of your equipment, resulting in lower cost and maintenance frequency.
Silicon Carbide Mechanical SealsElectronics and Semiconductor Manufacturing
Ceramic materials are indispensable in high-end semiconductor devices. If your semiconductor manufacturing is facing problems such as wafer scratches and low purity, trying out ceramic materials is a good choice.
Wafer processing cannot leave ceramic arms and chucks made of silicon carbide or silicon nitride. Ceramics do not produce metal ions, thus avoiding wafer contamination, improving the purity of products. The high rigidity of ceramics ensures that no slight wobbling occurs during high-speed movement.
Besides, alumina ceramic substrates have become an important component for PCB, due to their fast heat dissipation. Using them solves the problem of poor heat dissipation on metal or plastic substrates, which also affects the performance of the equipment.
Ceramic End Effector Transporting WafersHigh-Wear Applications
If you’ve ever noticed the pipes transporting ore and cement in mines and cement plants, you will find that these components experience intense friction. This is where ceramic materials come in handy. Ceramics have extremely high hardness and wear resistance far exceeding metals. By using silicon carbide or alumina ceramic linings and bushings, the wear caused by material friction can be greatly reduced.
Many companies have seen a significant reduction in cost in equipment maintenance and part replacement after using ceramic wear-resistant components. Can you imagine? Pipes that might have needed replacing every few months can have their lifespan extended several times over with ceramic linings! This is really a tangible improvement in efficiency.
Silicon Carbide Ceramic Linings ApplicationAutomotive and Aerospace
Ceramic brake pads, especially carbon ceramic brake pads, are popular in high-performance race cars. Ceramic materials provide better braking performance for their high-temperature resistance, low wear rate, and lightweight.
The heat shields of space shuttle, the liner of the rocket engine nozzle, both need to resist extremely high temperatures of thousands of degrees. Silicon carbide ceramic nozzles have advantages in aerospace mainly due to their high temperature resistance and low density. While maintaining stability in high temperature, ceramic nozzles also help reducing equipment load and preventing air leakage.
Drawing of Silicon Carbide Burner Nozzle by NewthinkPerformance Parameters of Common Industrial Ceramic Materials
The tables below provide the parameters of some ceramic materials. You can quickly match the ceramic materials that are suitable for your working conditions.
Table 1. Key Parameters of Common Industrial Ceramic Materials
| Material / Parameter | Density (g/cm3) | Hardness (HV) | Compressive Strength (MPa) | Thermal Conductivity (W/m·K) | Max Service Temp (℃) | |
| Alumina (Al2O3) | 3.7-3.9 | 1,400-1,900 | 2,000-3,500 | 20-37 | 1,200-1,700 | |
| Zirconia (ZrO2) | 5.9-6.0 | 1,050-1,350 | 2,000-4,500 | 2.5-3.0 | 750-1,000 | |
| Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) | 3.2-3.3 | 1,490-1,550 | 2,200-3,500 | 15-30 | 800-1,300 | |
| Silicon Carbide (SiC) | 3.08-3.16 | 2,700 | 3,800 | 40-120 | 1,300-1,650 | |
| Aluminum Nitride (AlN) | 3.3 | 1,100-1,200 | 2,000 | 90-230 | 1,700 | |
| Boron Nitride (BN) | h-BN | 2.0-2.3 | ~50 | 100 | 33-50 | 900 (Ox) 2200 (Inert) |
| c-BN | 3.48 | 4,500 | 4,000 | 700-800 | 1,300 | |
Table 2. Characteristics of Common Industrial Ceramic Materials
| Material | Key Characteristics | |
| Alumina (Al2O3) |
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| Zirconia (ZrO2) |
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| Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) | Excellent thermal shock resistance | |
| Silicon Carbide (SiC) |
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| Aluminum Nitride (AlN) |
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| Boron Nitride (BN) | h-BN | Self-lubricating |
| c-BN |
| |
Conclusion
Today, ceramic materials are not limited to our daily life. Ceramic materials are also important in many high-precision modern industry due to their superior properties. To meet these diverse application needs, many ceramic companies are committed to technological innovation and high-quality production.
Newthink New Materials is one of them, who aim to dig new possibility of ceramic materials. As a leading advanced ceramic manufacturer, we provide ceramic materials such as silicon carbide, alumina, and boron nitride to support the industries like semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and aerospace.
Thank you for reading. We hope this article will be helpful.
FAQs
- Is ceramic still used today?
Yes. Without outdated, ceramics are still the main pillar of advanced technology. Beside of traditional tea set and tiles, high-performance ceramics are popular in semiconductor manufacturing, 5G communication, and new energy sectors.
- What are the uses of ceramic materials?
Ceramic materials have a wide range of applications, including daily use, aerospace, electronics, biomedical industry, semiconductor manufacturing and so on.
- What are examples of ceramic materials in everyday life?
Ceramic materials are the “familiar friends” of our life. You can find them in polished tiles, tableware, watch and phone, cutting tools, windows and so on.
- What is the most used ceramic material?
Generally speaking, clay is the most used ceramic material. Because clay is used in architecture and decorations, so that you can see products made by clay almost everyday.
Moreover, alumina ceramic is popular in industry. Its high cost-effectiveness and good insulation make it been used widely in advanced applications.
- Is ceramic stronger than steel?
Ceramic has better hardness and compressive strength than steel. But steel has better fracture toughness than ceramic. It means that ceramics will break under highly impact, steel will deform under the same condition.
- Which country is the largest producer of ceramics?
China. China has the biggest ceramic tile production capacity, as well as occupy a huge proportion of the daily-use ceramics and specialty ceramics export.
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