New Grades Target Tough Applications

Design engineers can expectincreasing opportunities to use ceramics for demanding applications as newhigh-performance grades emerge and high-level players develop processingcapabilities.

CoorsTek opened a specialty materials center in Golden, CO thatfocuses on developing next-generation ceramic materials for applications inhigh-technology markets including semiconductor, electronics, laser, advancedarmor, medical and several others. New processing, manufacturing, finishingand materials analysis equipment were added to enable ultra-high materialpurities, increased material characterization detail, faster materialdevelopment cycles and expanded advanced processing capabilities.

"Our ultra-pure ceramicmaterials capability will support nearly all of our industries - especially thestringent demands of the semiconductor manufacturing market as they move beyond45 nm devices," says Frank Anderson, director of technology for CoorsTek.

HIGH-PURITY ALUMINA

CoorsTek developed anultra-high-purity ceramic material designed specifically for extreme-dutysemiconductor applications. In addition to very high purity, PlasmaPure-UCalumina offers high etch resistance in corrosive chemistries, very low sodium contentand an extremely low dielectric loss tangent of <0.00002. The fine-grainedmaterial also possesses four times better corrosion resistance and six timeslower sodium content than competitive alumina materials. "Outstandingmaterial property data and very positive customer trials have proven thematerial quite effective at extending component life and greatly reducingcontamination," says Mark Petty, executive vice president of CoorsTek, Inc.

FIGHTS ABRASION

The Ceradyne StackBearing is a hydrodynamic pad-typebearing that uses a rotating runner. The wear surfaces use an advanced grade ofsilicon carbide that is 50 percent tougher than other grades of siliconcarbide. Ceradyne says the hardness of the material prevents abrasive failurein highly demanding applications such as oil and gas drilling where rollingelement bearings are often used. "The abrasives simply polish the SiCsurfaces," says Russ C. Ide, new products manager at Ceradyne and an inventorof the system. "The significant technological improvement lies in the patentedspring mounting component that allows each pad to develop an optimum fluidwedge, equally load each pad in a bearing and then equalize the loading among astack of bearings and runners."

COMPLEX DESIGNS

Strong potential for ceramiccomponents is attracting new suppliers such as Phillips Plastics of Prescott,WI, which is applying precision mold-making and processing capabilities toceramic injection molding. The combination of ceramics with the injection moldingprocess provides several benefits to design engineers, including production ofsmall, highly complex geometries not possible with other ceramic formingprocesses, high strength, superior corrosion resistance, excellent surfacefinish and consolidation of multiple components into a single design.