Ceramics Glossary
Abrasive
Hard substances (such as fused alumina) that are used for polishing, cutting, or grinding.
Absorbency
The ability and capability of a material to soak up a liquid. In pottery and ceramics, this would relate to a glaze prior to firing.
Alumina – Alumina is a technical ceramic commonly used in engineering owing to its outstanding electrical insulation properties combined with rigidity and resistance to corrosion.
Advanced Ceramics
These types of ceramics are known as technical ceramics, high-tech ceramics, and high-performance ceramics. They are for industrial and commercial applications demanding high mechanical strength, abrasion and chemical resistance, electrical insulation, or resistance to high temperatures.
Casting
A method where slip is poured into a mould to create more complex ceramic forms. Examples include sanitary ware, figurines, and teapots.
Ceramics – This is a term that covers a broad range of clay-based products from bricks to tableware. The name originates from the Greek ‘Keramos’ which relates to the potter, pottery, or earthen vessel.
Flux
A lowest melting compound in a glaze, such as lead, borax, soda ash, or lime, and including the potash or soda contained in the feldspar. The flux combines easily with silica and thereby helps higher-melting alumina-silica compounds to form a glass.
Hot Face
The internal refractory surface area of the kiln.
Refractory
Used to describe how capable a material is of withstanding high temperatures. This is usually related to kiln shelves, cones, or stilts.
Tensile Strength
How strong, or resistant, a material is against being torn apart by tension.
Thermal Conductivity
How effective a material is at letting heat pass through it.
Thermal Shock
How prone to damage material is when exposed to changes in temperature.
Vitrification
The way in which materials fuse during firing.
Pyrometer
An instrument for measuring heat at high temperatures.
Pyrolytic
The pyrolysis (or devolatilization) process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition.
Hot pressing
A high-pressure, low-strain-rate powder metallurgy process for forming of a powder or powder compact at a temperature high enough to induce sintering and creep processes. This is achieved by the simultaneous application of heat and pressure.
Reaction Sintered Silicon Carbide (RBSiC)
Reaction sintering SIC is a reaction of silicon that is uniformly mixed and infiltrated with fine particles -Sic, carbon powder, and additives in proportion to generate -Sic and combine with -Sic, and excess silicon is filled into the voids, thereby obtaining a highly dense ceramic material.
Pressureless Sintered Silicon Carbide (SSIC)
The material is a dense SIC ceramic product made by pressureless sintering of high-performance sub-micron SIC powder. It does not contain free silicon and has fine grains. It has excellent properties such as high-temperature resistance, high strength, high hardness, high corrosion resistance, and oxidation resistance. It is the preferred general material for domestic and international manufacturers of mechanical seal rings, sandblasting nozzles, bulletproof armor, magnetic pumps, and canned pump components. It is especially suitable for conveying corrosive media such as strong acid and alkali.
Pressureless Sintered Silicon Carbide Plus Graphite (SSiC + G)
Pressureless graphite products are made by adding fine graphite particles and sintering at high temperatures on the basis of pressureless sintering SIC. The material not only has the excellent properties of SSIC, but also improves the self-moisturizing slipperiness and dry friction resistance of the material due to the presence of graphite particles. It is suitable for use in working conditions with strong corrosion, high load, dry friction, and hard-hard combination, such as sliding bearings.
Microporous Pressureless Sintered Silicon Carbide (Microporous SSiC)
This material is a special pressureless sintering SIC that optimizes the friction performance of the sealing surface. It forms uniformly distributed and independent spherical micropores that are not connected to each other during the sintering process. When the friction pair contacts the fluid medium, the spherical microporous hole will act as the reservoir of the fluid medium, so that the medium can fully lubricate, thereby reducing the friction coefficient and the friction heat of the end face; when the fluid medium is insufficient, the fluid storage effect of the micropores will improve the lubrication conditions and help promote A fluid film is maintained at the sliding interface. This microporous lubrication mechanism makes the microporous SSIC superior to conventional reaction sintered and pressureless sintered silicon carbide under many working conditions and is used in limited lubrication conditions and harsh application environments with hard-to-hard grinding surface combinations. Suitable for making water pump seals, sliding bearings, etc.