Silicon carbide ceramic is one of the hardest materials, second only to diamond and cubic boron nitride. It offers excellent chemical, thermal shock and wear resistance properties.
Neutron strain measurements on a circular SiC ceramic tile under impact with a steel projectile have revealed that pre-stress increases Hertzian cone trajectory and limits overall damage.
Hardness
Silicon carbide (SiC) ceramics are among the hardest materials, rivalling diamond and cubic boron nitride in terms of hardness. SiC ceramics boast exceptional abrasion resistance, impact resistance and thermal shock tolerance as well as very low density density with superior mechanical strength at elevated temperatures and creep resistance properties – qualities which have enabled their widespread usage across applications from aerospace components to automotive and national defense devices.
SiC ceramics can be challenging to manufacture due to requiring exact tolerances and temperature controls during sintering, making them more costly than other ceramic types. Furthermore, SiC can be fragile in certain situations, necessitating proper handling and machining procedures in order to ensure success for any application utilizing these advanced materials.
To address this problem, a novel technique has been devised to enhance the ballistic performance of SiC ceramics by confining them within a steel collar. This was demonstrated through neutron diffraction experiments and ballistic trials; post-impact microCT revealed that confinement significantly alters Hertzian conical cone morphology while limiting extent of damage; simulations further confirmed these experimental results.
Corrosion Resistance
Silicon carbide ceramics are widely known for their corrosion-resistance, strength at elevated temperatures, chemical stability, and low thermal expansion – qualities which make them an excellent material choice for use in mechanical seals, bearings and pumps. Furthermore, their wear-resisting tribological properties make them popularly utilized as wear-resistant nozzles and pipes in the petrochemical industry.
Sintered silicon carbide ceramics offer superior dielectric characteristics compared to aluminium oxide (Al2O3) and beryllium nitride (BeN), making them suitable for more applications than either of them. Sintered silicon carbide also features exceptional oxidation resistance, strength at high temperatures, thermal shock protection, wear resistance and chemical resistance properties that make it highly suitable for wear resistance applications and chemical exposure resistance.
Black-grey SiC ceramic’s corrosion resistance is one of its key advantages, providing increased ballistic protection at reduced product weight compared to armoured steel or aluminium armouring systems. As such, its use can provide comparable ballistic protection at reduced cost while simultaneously benefitting fuel consumption, range and operating speed.
Silicon carbide’s ability to withstand impacts at very high speeds is one of its greatest strengths, which can be further augmented through pre-stressing. This technique involves shrink fitting a high strength metal collar onto ceramic tiles for further stress-testing purposes, which has been found to significantly enhance ballistic response X-ray analysis and simulations have confirmed as well as reduced path of damage in Hertzian cone.
Abrasion Resistance
Silicon carbide ceramics are extremely hard, making them excellent wear-resistant materials in various applications. When compared to cast steel, rubber, or urethanes they outshone these common wear materials by over six times more resistance against abrasion – lasting 10-20 times longer in some instances! As such they offer an appealing alternative to metals in areas that need protection against both high temperature corrosion and chemical corrosion.
Ceramic linings are often utilized in the mining industry, where abrasion is a significant issue. Reaction bonded silica ceramate (RBSC) wear lining material is an ideal wear liner material to use against highly abrasive coarse particles during classification, concentration and dehydration processes due to its exceptional toughness, abrasion resistance, anti-oxidation properties and service life of up to 6 times longer than alumina liners.
Silicon carbide has long been utilized as a refractory material due to its superior temperature strength and low thermal expansion properties. At IPS Ceramics, we offer batts, setters, tubes and beams in thicknesses and lengths suitable for temperatures up to 1650oC (3000oF). All products manufactured according to tight tolerances, offering outstanding creep resistance as load bearing products with superior thermal shock resistance as well as resistance against phase transformation at elevated temperatures – ideal components to meet all your refractory needs! We also offer custom thickness and length products tailored specifically for your individual refractory needs!
Thermal Conductivity
Silicon carbide ceramics possess several outstanding features, such as high-temperature strength, small thermal expansion coefficient, hardness, good wear resistance and chemical corrosion resistance. Due to these impressive qualities, silicon carbide ceramics have become indispensable structural ceramics in automobile, mechanical industry and engineering fields; furthermore they’re used extensively by national defense forces, nuclear energy facilities, space technology companies and information electronics specialists alike.
Silicon carbide ceramics have long been studied, and their physics are well understood. Over the decades, scientists have established that their high temperature performance is both outstanding and highly stable over time, while elastic properties such as shear wave speeds, Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio define its elastic properties.
Silicon carbide ceramic tiles exhibit great creep resistance at elevated temperatures and have low sintering shrinkage rates, while their density varies with moisture content and their specific heat capacity and conductivity are comparable to that of metal materials.
IPS Ceramics provides all principal types of silicon carbide ceramic, such as sintered (SSiC) and reaction bonded (RBSiC). We produce both sintered (SSiC) and reaction bonded (RBSiC) varieties to suit different industrial applications – tubes, hoppers, chutes, pipes and conveyor systems among others can utilize our linings; our long service life compares well with traditional alumina linings while offering higher Moh’s hardness, better abrasion resistance as well as being resistant to erosion, corrosion and oxidation.