Saint-Gobain Engineered Ceramics provides sintered silicon carbide as the striking face in composite armor protection systems used by U.S. Department of Defense fleets including AC-130U gunships and C17, C141 and C5 transport planes.
Refrax silicon nitride bonded silicon carbide refractory material is chemically inert to most materials and makes an ideal choice for blocks used in copper furnaces where impacts or abrasion is likely.
High chemical inertness
Silicon Carbide (SiC) ceramic is a tough, wear resistant and chemically inert ceramic that finds numerous industrial uses. Due to its ability to withstand extreme temperatures and environments, SiC makes for an excellent refractory product choice; several variants exist specifically tailored for specific applications – Hexoloy SiC being one such variant that provides an optimal combination of performance and weight.
Silicon carbide exhibits polymorphism, or its ability to exist in various crystal structures. This is especially evident for porous silicon carbide which may exist in over 200 distinct crystal structures. A common preparation method for porous SiC is Physical Vapor Transport or seeded sublimation growth.
Refractory bricks made of silicon carbide are capable of withstanding high levels of erosion, cutting maintenance costs and downtime significantly. They’re especially well suited for areas in kilns where high wear occurs due to impacts and abrasion; whether cast in blocks or pressed into long shapes these engineered ceramics offer superior durability in many settings.
Saint-Gobain Performance Ceramics & Refractories’ Advancal silicon nitride bonded refractory offers superior strength, thermal shock resistance, chemical inertness and wear resistance in high wear areas of kilns. Furthermore, this ceramic offers exceptional chemical inertness, helping ensure quality fired products.
Extreme oxidation resistance
Saint-Gobain’s silicon carbide (SSiC) ceramics are proven to resist chemical attack and oxidation at extremely high temperatures, as well as being extremely tough and resilient – withstanding impact or wear resistance.
Saint-Gobain offers Hexoloy(r) SSiC ceramics as both sintered and reaction-bonded forms, providing maximum chemical corrosion, abrasion and thermal shock resistance in applications including 3D printing, ballistics, energy technology and paper manufacturing. Production methods for Hexoloy(r) SSiC include dry pressing, extrusion and additive forming for premium end uses such as 3D printing, ballistics, energy technology and paper manufacturing.
Reaction-bonded silicon carbide is an extremely reactive and dense material produced from porous carbon feedstock by bonding it together with molten silica to create a preform. Once solidified, its silicon oxynitride refractory properties can then be utilized via additive forming or casting techniques to produce fully denseified form of the material.
Newly developed enhanced nitride-bonded silicon carbide refractory compositions significantly enhance resistance to steam oxidation across a broad temperature range, thanks to adding boron as starting charge in conventional oxynitride-bonded silicon carbide formulations. The enhanced resistance has been achieved by adding boron in starting charge formulations of conventional oxynitride-bonded silicon carbide formulations; as a result, these compositions offer substantially longer life for use with metallurgical kiln furniture such as LO-MASS(r) LO-MASS SE kiln furniture as well as immersion tubes used with melting aluminum/zinc/zinc galvanizing furnaces as well as brick bottoms used with melting furnaces.
Extreme abrasion resistance
Abrasion and impact erosion can be costly issues in heavy industrial settings, leading to downtime and equipment failure. Traditional steel materials are vulnerable to gradual mechanical wear-and-tear and corrosion under harsh environments requiring high levels of wear resistance, but advanced ceramics like Saint Gobain silicon carbide provide greater abrasion resistance for these challenging applications.
Sintered silicon carbide consists primarily of SiC, SiO2 and oxygen (O2). It’s an extremely hard material with an extremely low specific gravity of 2.52 g/cm3, making it a very dense material with low density. Sinterable B4C often sees its strength increased through secondary phases formed during sintering that include carbides or borides which increase fracture toughness, strength and chemical resistance to acidic and alkaline solutions.
Saint-Gobain Engineered Ceramics has been producing personal protection ceramic armor since the 1960s, including some of the first truly ceramic body armor systems used by US armies. Our products, Refrax ARC and Hexoloy SA, offer unrivalled ballistic capability with superior strength while boasting unbeatable resistance against oxidation, chemical attacks and thermal shock.
Hexoloy SA is a pressure-less sintered form of alpha SiC with a density greater than 98% theoretical and engineered microstructure, featuring low friction properties enhanced by the presence of spherical pores that act as fluid or lubricant reservoirs, thus helping limit erosion under severe environmental conditions.
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Silicon carbide is an extremely hard ceramic material. Its extreme hardness and resistance to abrasion make it an invaluable material for various abrasive machining processes, such as grinding and honing, as well as lapidary, where it’s used to cut and polish gemstones. Silicon carbide also forms a vital part of bulletproof vests; thanks to its incredible hardness and ability to stop projectiles traveling at high-velocity.
Saint-Gobain Engineered Ceramics has been producing personal ceramic armor since the 1960s. Their advanced body armor systems use materials like boron carbide, alumina and silicon carbide for superior ballistic capabilities against high velocity projectiles. Furthermore, these ceramic materials boast excellent hardness, fracture toughness and compressive strength – providing unsurpassed protection for wearers.
Hexoloy SE SiC from our company is created through a proprietary extruding process using submicron silicon carbide powder sintering. This produces a self-bonded single phase material with an approximate density of over 95% theoretical and immunity to contamination. Hexoloy SE is 50% harder than tungsten carbide with excellent Weibull modulus and flexural strength properties; we can customize its use for specific applications.
Saint-Gobain is conducting early stage research to extend the operating temperatures of industrial ceramics in steam-containing environments, particularly solar reactors, where severe environmental conditions cause many common industrial ceramics to degrade at these high temperatures, thus undermining their structural integrity. Saint-Gobain’s work includes creating high temperature coatings for SiC material, improving its mechanical properties and developing “self-healing” SiC surfaces that repair themselves after damage occurs on an ongoing basis.
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