What are the materials of advanced ceramic?

Advanced ceramic is a high-tech material that appeared in recent years and quickly took up a significant place in the modern material technology world. Generally speaking, advanced ceramic fiber is a kind of improved ceramics with better resistance to temperature, magnetic force and electricity. Advanced ceramic fiber, being largely different from traditional ceramics which consist mainly of silicon and aluminum, can be made up of various materials. In the following passage, the producing process as well as the manufacturing material of advanced ceramics will be introduced.

-        What is advanced ceramic made of?

-        How is advanced ceramic made?

-        Properties of advanced ceramic

What is advanced ceramic made of?

Different from traditional ceramics which are generally made of silicon and aluminum, advanced ceramic fiber can have a far wider range of manufacturing material such as zirconia, alumina, nitrides, carbides and so on. Manufacturers can choose the material according to their expectation for the products.

How is advanced ceramic made?

The manufacturing process of advanced ceramic fiber generally consists of two parts: firing process and finishing process.

Firing process

The temperature range and equipment of the advanced ceramics’ firing conditions can vary. But generally, the materials are usually heated to temperatures much higher than the metal, often in the range of 1500 °C to 2400 °C or higher. To reach these temperatures, professional furnaces and linings are required. Moreover, some materials might require special gas environments (such as nitrogen) to make sure no additional chemical reaction will happen. Some typical firing methods for these furnaces are gas (gas plus oxygen, gas plus heated air), resistance heating (metal, carbon and ceramic heaters) or inductance heating (radio frequency, microwave).

The firing process is of great significance. At this stage, if the requirements for temperatures and environments are not met, the final products (advanced ceramics) will not have a good quality and the corresponding properties as they are supposed to have.

Finishing process

Finishing process is one of the final stages of the production of advanced materials. The materials at this step can be very hard (may even be as hard as diamond), so finishing process can be very expensive and slow. Techniques employed include laser, water jet, diamond cutting, diamond grinding and drilling. Due to the high cost of manufacturing advanced ceramic fiber, Small runs of production may not be economically feasible.

Properties of advanced ceramic

Advanced ceramics made of different materials usually possess slightly changed characteristics. Advanced ceramics can be split into three types: metal oxide ceramics, glass ceramics and carbides & nitrides. Each group has its unique properties.

Metal oxide ceramics such as alumina serves well under high temperatures (up to 1800 Celsius degrees), which shows that they have excellent thermal resistance. They also have good stability but are susceptible to strong acids or sodium.

Glass ceramics like aluminum-silicate commonly share the characteristics of high strength, good refractoriness, corrosion and abrasion resistance, thermal shock resistance and stability at high temperatures.

Carbides and nitrides qualified as advanced ceramics, including silicon carbide and aluminum nitride, often have high strength as well as low density.