Ceramisis have a
production facility dedicated to advance technical ceramic
component manufacture, in a wide range of machinable and non
machinable technical ceramics. We can also supply machinable
ceramics such as Macor, Shapal, Alumina (96% machinable) and
Boron Nitride, in rod or plate form, for customers to
produce their own technical ceramic components. Technical
ceramics are ideal for use in UHV Thin Film Vacuum
Deposition and Etch systems due to their low outgassing
properties.
Ceramisis also supply Ceramic and graphite components
produced by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), such as Solid Pyrolytic graphite
(PG) and solid
Pyrolytic Boron Nitride (PBN), and can also produce
composite products made from these to materials combined,
such as heater elements. We produce components such as boats, crucibles
and heaters, which are also well very suited to Ultra High Vacuum (UHV)
applications due
to their very high purity, low outgassing and high operating
temperatures.
Components produced from non machinable ceramics such as
Alumina, Zirconia, Aluminium Nitride, Silicon Nitride,
Silicon Carbide and Quartz are moulded to size then sintered
/ fired. After firing only minor machining operations are
possible.
With
machinable ceramics such as Macor, Shapal, Boron Nitride and
Machinable 96% Alumina, components are produced using
conventional machining techniques from stock bar, rod and
plate. No post firing is required after the components are
machined.
CVD
materials such as Pyrolytic Graphite (PG) and Pyrolytic
Boron Nitride (PBN) are produced at very high temperatures
by depositing material onto a substrate or mandrel. Post
machining is possible although the deposited thickness of
the material is normally only a few millimetres.
Ceramisis also supply a complete range of high temperature
asbestos free ceramic textiles, in cloth, rope, sleeve,
blanket and yarn form. We can offer the well known
Dalfratex range, or our own
cost effective high quality
Ceramitex
range.
A
brief description of our most popular technical ceramic
materials follows. Please click the relevant tab above for
more detail and specifications.
Machinable
Ceramics
Macor- is a
machinable glass ceramic and easily machined with
conventional metal working tools. It is an ideal prototyping
material for use in a vacuum environment at low or high
temperature. Continuous use temperature is 800 C and the
coefficient of thermal expansion matches most metals.
Shapal- is
machined with diamond tooling and has high mechanical strength and
high
thermal conductivity. It has very good resistance to thermal shock and is based on the worlds first translucent aluminium
nitride ceramic. Shapal ceramic unique characteristics make it suitable for a
wide range of applications in the vacuum and nuclear industries. It has
zero porosity, low our gassing rates, is not affected by most etch plasmas
or ionizing radiation and easily joins to its self or other
materials.
Boron Nitride- Boron nitride is a unique material. it offers outstanding thermal
conductivity, excellent dielectric strength, very good thermal shock
resistance, is self lubricating and is easily Machinable. This material is an advanced
synthetic ceramic available in powder, solid, liquid and aerosol spray
forms. In an oxidizing atmosphere it can be used up to 900°C. However, in
an inert atmosphere some grades can be used as high as 3000°C. Grades are
available with a very low porosity and ultra high strength for use in
semiconductor processing and mechanical applications.
Non-Machinable
Ceramics
Alumina, Zirconia- Alumina and zirconia are hard wearing materials used for many
applications. Once fired and sintered, they can only be machined
using diamond-grinding methods. Alumina's combination of
hardness, high temperature operation and good electrical
insulation makes it useful for a wide range of applications.
Zirconia is similar to
alumina in many of its properties but offers significant
improvement in fracture toughness. It is particularly useful in
applications where the mechanical strength of alumina is not
sufficient.
Aluminium Nitride, Silicon Nitride-
Aluminium nitride has very high thermal conductivity, high
mechanical strength and combined with its excellent electrical
insulation properties is an ideal heat sink material for
many electrical and electronic applications. Silicon nitride is an
extremely hard material and is very useful for applications in
which physical wear is of great importance. Silicon nitride also
has very good thermal shock characteristics.
Silicon Carbide- is a very hard wearing
material, again requiring diamond-grinding methods to process
once fired. Although not exclusively, carbides are used mainly
for applications in which physical wear is a major
consideration. They are amongst the hardest materials available.
