What are advanced ceramic materials?
Advanced ceramics, known around the world as technical ceramics, engineering ceramics or precision ceramics, consist of inorganic, non-metallic oxide, nitride or carbide materials. Advanced ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, weak in shear and tensile strength. They are generally resistant to chemical corrosion that occurs with other materials in acidic or corrosive environments, and can often withstand very high temperatures ranging from 1,000 °C to 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F).
Why use advanced ceramic materials?
Advanced ceramics are more varied, and have different chemical composition and organizational structure, and therefore have different properties and functions. However, because advanced ceramics generally have high strength, high hardness, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, electrical insulation and other characteristics, as engineering structural materials and functional materials are widely used in machinery, electronics, chemical industry, smelting, energy, medicine, lasers, nuclear reaction, astronautics and other aspects.
Advanced ceramics are changing the world
Due to their excellent high temperature resistance, high hardness and electrical properties, advanced ceramics are often used as replacements for metals, polymers and refractory materials in a variety of applications. Their properties can be adjusted to meet a variety of demanding conditions by changing the chemical formulation or manufacturing process. Proper use of ceramics can extend product life, increase efficiency, reduce overall maintenance costs and improve product performance.
Basic properties of advanced ceramics.
Very high hardness
One of the most common properties of advanced ceramic materials is their extremely high hardness (and stiffness), some being more than four times that of stainless steel. Such high hardness translates directly into excellent wear resistance, allowing parts made from advanced ceramics to be used for long periods of time without wear.
Very high compressive strength
Advanced ceramic materials have high compressive strength. For example, many precision ceramics can withstand extremely high loads of 1,000 to 4,000 MPa. On the other hand, titanium, which is considered a very strong metal, has a compressive strength of only 1,000 MPa.
Generally low density
Another common characteristic of advanced ceramic materials is their low density, ranging from 2 to 6 g / cm³, which is much lighter than stainless steel (8 g / cm³) and titanium (4.5 g / cm³). Due to their high hardness and low weight, advanced ceramics are increasingly being used in a variety of industries, offering performance and longevity unmatched by other materials.
Ability to withstand high temperatures
Advanced ceramics can function at temperatures where most metals (or almost any other material) cannot maintain their properties. Some ceramics can even operate at temperatures in excess of 1750°C, making them ultra-high temperature materials. Advanced ceramics have proven invaluable in high-temperature applications such as engines, turbines and bearings, where they can extend service life, improve performance and increase efficiency.
Excellent electrical performance
Advanced ceramic materials tend to be excellent electrical insulators (high dielectric strength), and they are particularly useful in high-temperature applications where the mechanical and thermal properties of other materials tend to decline. Certain ceramics have low electrical losses and high dielectric constants, and these are commonly used in electronic applications such as capacitors and resonators. In addition, the ability to combine insulators with structural components has led to many product innovations, making them widely used.
Chemically inert and corrosion resistant
Advanced ceramic materials are chemically very stable and have low chemical solubility, making them highly resistant to corrosion. Metals and polymers do not offer the same inertness or corrosion resistance, which makes advanced ceramics an attractive option for many commercial and industrial applications. Especially where wear resistance is also required, the use of advanced ceramic application parts is greatly enhanced.
Disadvantages of Advanced Ceramics.
Less plasticity
Advanced ceramics after sintering and molding generally have a high degree of hardness, which makes advanced ceramics very difficult to machine. Therefore, unlike traditional metal materials, most advanced ceramics can only be machined by grinding after sintering, which is why advanced ceramic parts are sold at a higher price than metal parts for the same structure. Fortunately, we offer machinable microcrystalline glass ceramics and hexagonal boron nitride ceramics, which can be machined by conventional cutting methods and are highly malleable.
brittle material
The atomic bonds in advanced ceramics consist of both ionic and covalent bonds. This bonding structure means that the atomic structure is very difficult to move, making them extremely strong, but it also makes advanced ceramics non-ductile and they can be very brittle. In contrast to advanced ceramics, metals have relatively low strength “metallic” bonds that can bond to atoms in any direction, and this ability to have many multi-directional bonds makes them ductile and tough. Therefore, the correct selection of advanced ceramic materials and rational structural design is very important.
hard design
Each type of advanced ceramic has specific thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties, which may vary depending on operating conditions and product design. In fact, even the manufacturing process for the exact same type of advanced ceramic material can dramatically alter its properties.
Chinese 
English