Updated: Originally published on 25/10/2018

Silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) ceramics have outstanding thermal shock resistance and ultra-high temperature strength values, exceeding many technical ceramics in terms of their resistance to thermodynamic stress. The main challenge associated with manufacturing silicon nitride for industrial applications is of cost-effectively achieving full densification of green bodies. Hot pressing methods yield fully dense, high-performance technical ceramics but at excessive costs.

Updated 11/11/21 to include the most accurate and up-to-date information.

Technical ceramics are ubiquitous in industrial manufacturing with a storied history of innovation and versatility. Manufacturers of some of the most hard-wearing and high-strength engineered ceramics worldwide are committed to pushing the envelope with regards to the capability of these novel materials. This has included fine-tuning the chemical composition of ceramic additives and raw materials to reduce the manufacturing costs of high-performance ceramics such as silicon nitride. All this, whilst still improving the material’s physical and thermal properties.

Syalon 101 is a Si-Al-O-N ceramic material with a similar crystallographic structure to beta-phase silicon nitride (β-Si₃N₄) which is also engineered for its extraordinary strength, toughness, and hardness characteristics. First envisaged as a cost-effective alternative to conventional silicon nitride, Syalon 101 can now compete with a broad range of established engineering ceramic materials.

Silicon nitride ceramics are a unique family of materials engineered for optimal efficiency in extremely demanding thermodynamic conditions. Several derivatives of the original beta-phase silicon nitride Syalon 101 have been designed for enhanced corrosion resistance or improved formability, but these outstanding mechanical and thermal properties still underline the performance of the overarching product line.

The chemical and process industry is concerned with converting raw materials into semi-finished or finished products via thermochemical reactions. This covers an extensive range of industrial and commercial processes, including petroleum metering and petrochemical production of organic and inorganic polymers. Chemical and process industries are typified by chemical reactions of highly corrosive or erosive media at ambient or elevated temperatures.

Mankind has been using moulds to manufacture ceramics for centuries. The precise origin of slip casting is still debated, with variations of the method observed in prehistoric Peruvian cultures and the ancient empires of the Mediterranean Sea. The French rather romantically coined the phrase coulage to describe the process of slip casting, which roughly translates as casting through shrinkage. This term is also associated with mass production, which is why the discovery of the technique is often dated centuries after indigenous peoples in Peru first used slip casting to construct simple panpipes.

Zirconia, or zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂), is an advanced ceramic material which is used in a wide spectrum of applications, including abrasive and high-temperature processes, and in biomedical industries. This versatility comes down to the variable ZrO₂ crystal structure. There are three disctint crystallographic phases of zirconia, and the properties of any given zirconia product depend upon which of those phases the material exists as. 

Sialon ceramics based on high-strength silicon nitride were engineered as a cost-effective solution to some of the most demanding thermal processing and mechanical industrial environments. A tetrahedral arrangement of silicon—nitrogen bonds substituted with the addition of aluminium and oxygen provides exceptional resistance to varied thermodynamic stresses, with enhanced resistance to corrosive attack. These properties are supplemented with high material strengths and physical integrity under applied forces.

Silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) is a high-performance refractory ceramic that can exist in three different crystallographic phases (α, β and γ), each displaying distinct thermodynamic properties. Each of these material phases is suitable for severe working conditions, and silicon nitride been used to manufacture high-temperature components in some of the most demanding industrial sectors worldwide. However, conventional sintering methods struggle to produce fully dense and complex silicon nitride components, and alternative techniques represent significant additional costs. SiAlON ceramics were engineered as a direct solution to these issues.