Ceramic Matrix Composites Specifications

Help with Ceramic Matrix Composites specifications:

Material Type

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	Aluminum Nitride		Aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramics are compounds of aluminum metal and nitrogen. Aluminum nitride is relatively inert. Its good thermal conductivity, combined with high electrical insulation ability, makes these materials useful as substrates, insulators, and barrier layers in microelectronics applications.
	Alumina / Aluminum Oxide		Alumina or aluminum oxide (Al2O3) is a compound that consists of aluminum and oxygen. Typically, it used in the alpha alumina structural form. In its pure form, alumina is a white ceramic material with high hardness. Fully-dense alumina can be translucent. Alumina is used widely because of its versatility and relatively low cost. Depending on its purity and density, alumina is used to make refractory tubes, industrial crucibles, analytical labware, dielectric substrates, wear components, refractory cements, and abrasives. Alumina’s main drawback is having relatively poor thermal shock resistance, which is due to its higher coefficients of thermal expansion and lower thermal conductivity compared to other pure ceramic materials, such as silicon carbide (SiC).
	Alumina-Zirconia		Zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) and other zirconia-alumina ceramics are often used in wear applications as an intermediate solution between alumina and zirconia. ZTA offers increased fracture toughness over alumina at a lower cost compared to pure or high zirconia ceramics. Depending on the purity and density, alumina is used for refractory tubes, industrial crucibles, analytical labware, wear components, refractory cements, and abrasives.
	Beryllia / Beryllium Oxide		Beryllia and beryllium oxide (BeO) ceramics provide high thermal conductivity and heat dissapation combined with high dielectric strength, which make BeO useful in electronic heatsinks, substrates,  and packaging applications using miniaturized circuitry.  Beryllia is also fabricated into crucibles, rods, washers, and thermocouple tubing.
	Boron Carbide		Boron carbide (B4C) has higher hardness than alumina or silicon carbide. Its oxidation product (B2O3) provides a protective skin at high temperatures (> 800oC). Because of its high hardness and wear resistance, boron carbide is applied in low-temperature applications such as grinding wheel dressers, and abrasive blast or water jet nozzles.
	Boron Nitride		Boron nitride (BN) ceramics are based on compounds of boron and nitrogen. Boron nitride is relatively inert and has good thermal conductivity combined with good electrical insulation, making this material useful in fabricating substrates and insulators in microelectronics applications. BN is polymorphic, meaning that it occurs in a wide variety of crystalline structure forms. BN is available as amorphous or vitreous, pyrolytic, hexagonal, and cubic crystal structures. Cubic boron nitride (CBN) is a super abrasive that is second only to diamond in hardness.  BN is more resistant to oxidation than carbon.  Depending on the purity, density and crystal structure, boron nitride is used for refractory linings, industrial crucibles, arc furnace electrodes, analytical labware, composites, refractory cements, and super abrasives. Hexagonal BN is structurally weak and used as a high temperature lubricant, coating, or release agent.
	Calcium Aluminate		Calcium aluminate (CaAlO3) refractories are usually derived from calcium aluminate, calcium, or alumina-bearing minerals.  Calcium aluminate is used in refractory cements and shapes, as well as synthetic slag additions for metallurgical operations.
	Carbide Materials		Carbides and carbide materials include silicon carbide, tungsten carbide, and titanium carbide, as well as other compounds of a metal (Ti, W, Cr, Zr) or metalloid (B, Si) and carbon. Carbides have excellent wear-resistance and high hot hardness.
	Ceria / Cerium Oxide		Ceria, cerium oxide, or ceric oxide is used in ceramics, solid oxide fuel cells, in optical polishing compounds, and as a sensitizer in photosensitive glass. Cerium is also part of the rare earth oxides group.
	Cordierite		Cordierite (2MgO·2Al2O3·5SiO2) or cordierite porcelain is a magnesium aluminum silicate produced by fusing a mixture of talc, clay, and aluminum oxide. Cordierite and cordierite mineral precursors are also known as magnesium-alumino silicate, dichroite, and iolite. Cordierite has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, high mechanical strength, and low dielectric loss.  Cordierite is commonly fabricated into an insulator or insulating substrate because of its good dielectric properties. Cordierite has excellent thermal-shock resistance. It can withstand a red heat to ice water quench, and then be returned to red heat. High-fire cordierite body will withstand a temperature rise from 70º to 1800º in 80 seconds, followed by an immediate room-temperature air quench.
	Electrostrictive Ceramic		Electrostrictive ceramics are relaxor ferroelectric ceramics. Strains vary quadratically with an electric field for the electrostrictor, rather than linearly as in a piezoelectric ceramics. Relaxors exhibit very high dielectric constants (K > 20,000), diffuse ferroelectric-to-paraelectric phase transitions, and electrostrictive strain vs. electric field behavior.  Electrostrictors excel at high frequencies and very-low driving fields. Often, they are applied in specialized microactuators. Electrostrictors display little or no hysteretic loss even at very high frequencies of operation, due to the lack of spontaneous polarization. For transducer applications, electrostrictors must operate under a DC bias field to induce piezoelectric behavior. Operation under bias is characterized by field-dependent piezoelectric and electromechanical coupling coefficients.  Relaxors exhibit poor temperature stability and they operate best in situations where the temperature can be stabilized to within approximately 10°C.
	Forsterite		Forsterite is a stoichiometric magnesium orthosilicate (Mg2SiO4) used in applications that require a high coefficient of thermal expansion. Forsterite has desirable electrical insulation properties and is used as a layer on transformer steel sheets. This layer is formed by the reaction of magnesium oxide with the silicon additions of the steel during annealing. Forsterite is also used in bulk form to fabricate insulators.
	Glass Ceramic		Glass ceramics are ceramics that can be fused and then molded, formed, ground, or machined using conventional glass fabrication techniques. After part fabrication, the glass ceramics' structure is transformed from an amorphous, glassy state to a crystalline ceramic state. MACOR® is widely applied glass ceramic with a fluorine rich glass composition approaching trisilicic fluorphlogopite mica (KMg3AlSi3O10F2). MACOR®is a trademarked proprietary material of Corning Corporation.  Ceran®, Ceramat®, Robax®and Zerodur® are widely-applied proprietary glass ceramics from Schott Glass Corporation.
	Hafnia / Hafnium Oxide		Hafnia or hafnium oxide is similar in nature to zirconia, exhibiting high refractoriness or thermal stability and reasonable elevated temperature strength. Hafnia is useful for crucibles, tubes, and thermocouple sheath is specific applications. Hafnia can be stabilized with calcia (CaO) or yttria (Y2O3) for high-temperature applications. Hafnia has a higher bulk density (9 g/cc) compared to zirconia (5.7 g/cc).  Hafnium and zirconium occur together in nature. Hafnium films are used in optical coating applications where they provide a high-index, low-absorption material in the near-UV to IR regions.
	Magnesia / Magnesite		Magnesia ceramics or refractories are based on compounds that consist of magnesium and oxygen. Magnesite or magnesia refractories or minerals are also known as magnesium oxide, magnesium carbonate, dead burned magnesite, calcined magnesite, periclase, or magnesia clinker. Depending on the origin and processing, magnesia is divided into caustic, dead-burnt, fused, precipitated, sintered, or calcined and synthetic magnesia forms.   The high melting point (2800° C) and heat resistance (1700°C in the reducing and 2300° C in oxidizing atmosphere) of magnesium oxide make it suitable for the production of refractories. Magnesite is the naturally occurring mineral or ore used to produce magnesium oxide based refractories. Magnesite often contains iron, manganese, or other activator elements. Magnesium oxide refractories with a carbon bond are frequently used in the steel industry. Magnesite refractories have good resistance to molten iron and steel.
	Metal Boride (ZrB2, TiB2)		Metal boride ceramics are compounds of a metal and boron, such as zirconium boride (ZrB2) or titanium boride (TiB2).  Titanium borides show an increase in ductility with an increase in temperature.
	Mullite		Mullite (3Al2O3-2Si02 or Al6Si2O13) is a compound of aluminum, silicon, and oxygen. Mullite can also be viewed as a phase in the alumina-silica binary system. Mullite is a synthetic, fused, or calcined crystalline aluminum silicate produced in electric arc furnaces from alumina and silica.  Mullite usually has an off-white or tan color. Depending on the purity and density, mullite can have superior dielectric and thermal shock properties and resistance to slag and silicate refractory bonds.  Mullite is used for refractory tubes, industrial crucibles, analytical labware, dielectric substrates, wear components, and in refractory cements. Calcining kyanite minerals often derive refractory grade mullite or alumina-mullite mixtures.
	Piezoelectric Ceramic		Piezoelectric ceramics include quartz and ferroelectric or perovskite materials. Ferroelectric materials include lead titanates, lead zirconates, lead zirconate titanates (PZT), barium titanates, barium tantalate, and lead magnesium niobates. Ferroelectric materials and have the general formula ABO3 .  Piezoelectric materials produce an electrical charge when a load is applied and deformation occurs. These properties make piezoelectric materials useful for pressure or load sensors.  Inversely, piezoelectric materials produce force or deformation when a load is an applied electrical charge. These properties make piezoelectric materials useful for microactuators, nanoactuators, or piezoelectric motors.
	Quartz		Quartz is found in a mined mineral form, as well as man-made fused quartz forms. Fused quartz is a high purity, crystalline form of silica used in specialized applications such as semiconductor wafer boats, furnace tubes, bell jars or quartz ware, silicon melt crucibles, high-performance lamps such as mercury and quartz halogen lamps, ultraviolet (UV) lamps, thermocouple protectors, waveguide handles, analytical labware, and other high-temperature products. Single-crystal quartz is also available for piezoelectric applications.
	REO		Rare earth oxides (REO) ceramics are manufactured from Lanthanide series metal oxides such as lanthana, samaria, ytterbia, and ceria. Rare earth oxide can have unique chemical and surface tension modifying properties. Mixed rare earth compositions consist of rare earth oxides combined with more conventional oxides; oxides of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb and Lu.
	Sapphire		Sapphire is a high-purity and high-density, single-crystalline form of aluminum oxide, which may contain chromia, titania, yttria, or other dopants. Sapphire is usually transparent or translucent.  Sapphire ceramics are used in lasers, substrates, jewel bearings, watch crystals or other optical, wear, electronic, and specialized applications. Ruby, corundum, and topaz are other names for natural or synthetic sapphire. Ruby is chromium-doped sapphire used in optical filters and laser rods.
	SiAlON		SiAlON (Al2O3-Si3N4) is an alloy of silicon nitride and aluminum oxide. SiAlON has the combined properties of silicon nitride (high strength, hardness, fracture toughness, and low thermal expansion) and aluminum oxide (corrosion resistance, chemically inert, high temperature capabilities, and oxidation resistance). SiAlON is a superior refractory material for components exposed to high temperatures, mechanical abuse, corrosion, wear, or applications requiring electrical resistance.
	Silica / Silicate Materials		Ceramics are based on silica and silicate materials. Silica and silicates are compounds of silicon and oxygen. For dielectric applications, silicates are modified with magnesium and/or aluminum to provide sufficient dielectric properties. Cordierite and steatite are silicates that are commonly used in dielectric applications. High-purity, amorphous, fused silica is a high-performance ceramic with very low expansion, remarkable thermal shock resistance, low thermal conductivity, excellent electrical insulation up to 1000° C, and excellent resistance to corrosion from molten metal and glass.
	Silicide (MoSi2)		Silicide ceramics are compounds that consist of a metal and silicon such as molybdenum disilicide (MoSi2). Molybdenum disilicide is commonly used as a resistant heating element in high temperature furnaces.
	Silicon Carbide		Silicon carbide (SiC) is a compound of silicon metalloid and oxygen. Typically, SiC is used in the alpha silicon carbide structural form. Silicon carbide is a black, high-hardness ceramic that is usually harder than alumina. Depending on the addition of impurities SiC may be green or black in color.  Fully-dense SiC can be transparent (moissanite).  SiC is used widely because of its versatility and relatively low cost. Depending on its purity and density, SiC is used in refractory tubes, industrial crucibles, wafer semi-insulating substrates, wear components, refractory cements, and abrasives.  SiC forms a protective SiO2 skin that prevents further oxidation at very high temperatures in non-reducing atmospheres. Because of its low coefficient of thermal expansion and high thermal conductivity, SiC has a relatively high thermal shock resistance compared to other ceramic materials.
	Steatite		Steatite or steatite porcelains are based on hydrated magnesium silicate (3MgO-4SiO2-4H2O) and are similar in composition to naturally-occurring soapstone or mineral talc. Steatite ceramics may also have additions of alumina, calcia, and ferrous oxide.  Resistance heaters and electrical insulators are commonly made of steatite due to the material's low cost, refractoriness, and high electrical resistance at high temperatures. Steatite and steatite minerals are also known as soapstone, massive talc, block steatite, and soapstone silicate. Steatite ceramic is ideal for high frequency, low loss, and high voltage insulation. Steatite has good mechanical properties and low loss electrical qualities. It is ideal for resistor forms, igniters, standoffs, surge arrestors, coil forms, spacers, spark plugs, etc. Steatite is easily fabricated to close tolerances and is much less expensive than alumina ceramic insulators.
	Silicon Nitride		Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is a compound that consists of silicon and nitrogen.  It has superior mechanical properties and forms a protective SiO2 skin at high temperatures. Silicon nitride ceramics are difficult to sinter by conventional means because the material dissociates above 1800o C.
	Titania / Titanate		Titania or rutile minerals (TiO2) are compounds that consist of titanium and oxygen. Titanates are compounds with titanium, an additional cation (Ba, Al, Sr), and oxygen. Examples include BaTiO3. Typically, titania and titanates are used as additions to other refractories, or for their specialized electrical or piezoelectric properties.
	Yttria		Yttria or yttrium oxide powders are used as additives for strengthening ceramics, forming phosphors, microwave garnets, and lasing garnets. Yttria powders are also used to form a molten, metal-resistant coating on the internal walls of crucibles.  Yttria additions in zirconia ceramics can stabilize the tetragonal phase, providing a transformation toughening mechanism. Yttria is used as a constituent in yttrium-iron garnets for microwave applications and neodybnium-yttrium-aluminum garnets for Nd:YAG laser applications. High temperature superconductors, such as YBa2Cu3O, also utilize yttrium. While not technically within the rare earth group, yttrium oxide shares many of the properties typical of REO materials.
	Zirconium Phosphate		Ceramics are based on a zirconium phosphate
	Zircon		Zircon is a compound of a zirconium silicate, ZrSiO4, which is found naturally in the form of zircon sand. Zircon has useful refractory properties.
	Zirconia		Zirconia or zirconium oxide (ZrO2) is a refractory compound of zirconium and oxygen. Zirconia may have additions of calcia, magnesia, or yttria to stabilize the structure into a cubic structure. Zirconia stabilized in the cubic crystal structure avoids cracking and mechanical weakening during heating and cooling. Certain zirconia materials have the ability to transformation toughen (tetragonal to monoclinic phase change) under applied stress. They are often used in wear applications that require improved fracture toughness and stiffness over alumina.  Zirconia ceramics possess excellent chemical inertness and corrosion resistance at temperatures well above the melting point of alumina. Zirconia is more costly than alumina, so it is only used where alumina will fail. Zirconia has low thermal conductivity and is an electrical conductor above 800° C. Zirconia is used to fabricate oxygen sensors or fuel cell membranes because it possesses the unique ability to allow oxygen ions to move freely through the crystal structure above 600° C. Zirconia products should not be used in contact with alumina above 1600°C.  Depending on the purity and density, zirconia is used in refractory tubes or cylinders, industrial crucibles, analytical labware, sensors, wear components, refractory cements, thermocouple protection tubes, furnace muffles, liners, and high temperature heating element supports.
	Specialty Ceramic		Specialty ceramics include nitrides, borides, carbon or graphite, silicides, and other specialized non-metallic compounds. Specialty ceramics are sometimes called fine ceramics, advanced ceramics, engineered ceramics, technical ceramics, and high-performance ceramics. Specialty cement, concrete, and mortar contain specialized binders such as K silicate, calcium aluminate, sulfur, and oxysulfate or polymer resins. They cure or set through film drying (air setting), chemical reactions, thermoset bonds, hydraulic bond
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Applications

	Applications:
	Your choices are...
	Abrasive / Erosive Wear Protection		Materials resist damage by abrasion or erosion, and protect underlying surfaces from abrasive or erosive wear.
	Armor / Ballistic Protection		Materials are used to protect equipment, vehicles and/or personal against damage from blasts, explosions, bullets and other high-speed projectiles.
	Battery / Fuel Cell		Material is suitable for use in battery or fuel cell as a collector plate, proton exchange membrane or catalyst.
	Biotech / Medical (Biomaterial)		Bioceramics are specially formulated or designed to have suitable biocompatibility for biotechnology and medical applications.
	Ceramics / Glass Manufacturing		Materials provide resistance to molten glass, or are compatible with ceramics and glasses during firing, calcining or fusing in a kiln or furnace.
	Chemical / Materials Processing		Materials provide high temperature and/or corrosion resistance, making them suitable for chemical-processing applications.  Examples include ceramics or refractories with resistance to molten glass, ceramics, metals, plastics or other materials during milling, firing, calcination, fusion or other processes.
	Construction & Building / Architectural		Materials are designed or suitable for use in architectural, building, and construction applications. Examples include bricks, fire bricks or tiles.
	Corrosion Protection		Materials are designed or suitable for corrosive environments, such as the floors or walls of chemical processing plants.
	Dielectric / Electrical Insulation		Dielectric ceramics have high electrical resistivity (low electrical conductivity) and high dielectric strength. Dielectric strength is the resistance to electrical breakdown under an applied electric field.
	Electrical / HV Parts		Materials are used to fabricate electrical parts for high voltage or power applications. Examples include insulators, igniters or heating elements.
	Electronics / RF-Microwave		Materials are suitable for electronics applications, including RF and microwave. Ferrites, garnets, alumina/sapphire and silicates have sufficient dielectric properties for use in electronic, radio frequency (RF) and microwave devices such as antenna radomes, patch antenna substrates, thin/thick film substrates and resonators. In addition, ceramics, glass and other non-metallic compounds or elemental semiconductors are used as substrates, wafer or dummy wafers in semiconductor manufacturing.  Ceramics are also used for wafer chucks or holders, wafer furnace boats and thin film chamber liners.
	Foundry / Metal Processing		Materials are designed for foundry and metal-processing applications. Ceramic and refractory crucibles, tubes, stoppers, liners, spouts, permanent molds, thermocouple protection tubes, combustion gas heater tubes, submersible heater tubes, die casting stalks/sleeves, and other furnace components are used in foundries for melting and casting aluminum, steel, copper alloys or other metals.
	Optics / Optical Grade		Ceramic, optical grade materials are used in the fabricating or processing of optical components such as lenses, windows, prisms, optical fibers, and lasing material components. Materials with optical applications include single-crystal ceramics, transparent ceramics, sapphire, and quartz.
	Refractory / High Temperature Materials		Refractory and high-temperature materials are hard, heat-resistant products such as alumina cement, fire clay, bricks, precast shapes, cement or monolithics, and ceramic kiln furniture. Ceramic refractories have high melting points and are suitable for applications requiring wear-resistance, high temperature strength, electrical or thermal insulation, or other specialized characteristics.
	Structural		Structural applications require ceramic components with a suitable strength, elastic modulus, toughness, and other mechanical properties. Ceramics can have much higher compressive strengths and elastic moduli compared to metals.
	Thermal Insulation / Fire Proofing		Thermally-insulating ceramics and refractories provide a thermal barrier between components and a hot or cold source. These ceramics and refractory shapes are also useful in providing flame protection and fire-proofing between a burner and the surrounding environment, or between combustion and oxygen sources.
	Wear Parts / Tooling		Wear-resistant ceramics are used in industrial products such as automotive rings, pump parts, valve seals/seats, faucet discs, papermaking machine dewatering strips, aluminum can dies, wire drawing dies and textile guides.
	Other		Other unlisted, specialized or proprietary applications.
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Shape / Form

	Shape / Form:
	Your choices are...
	Foundry / Plunger Tools (Stirrer, Stopper, etc.)		Foundry or plunger tools are designed to be immersed in molten metal and aid in the processing and casting of metal melts. Foundry and plunger tools include stirring rods, mixing paddles, dippers, skimmers, degasser tubes, degassing rotors, riser stalks, and stopper rods. Plunger mixers or stirring rods are dipped into molten materials to agitate, mix, or sample the metal or glass melt to assure consistent homogeneity. Stopper rods are used to control the flow and mixing of molten material in a crucible, ladle, pot or furnace. Stoppers are used to stop or control flow of a melt by plugging up a hole in the bottom of furnace crucible or melting pot. Dippers or skimmers are used to remove.
	Granular Fill / Bed Media		Granular fill is a loose, insulating material such as vermiculite that is loaded into a cavity to provide insulation and remains in a loose, unbonded condition. Bed media is a loose granular ceramic used in a catalytic oxidizer, fluid bed heater, or other thermal process unit to hold, filter or carry catalyst chemicals or particles during the heating, burning, or chemical reaction operation. Typically, ceramic bed media and granular fill have a high degree of porosity.
	Kiln Furniture / Support		Beams, posts, setters, supports, rollers, baffles, kiln cars, boats, shelves, or other components are used to support, move, and process products or raw materials in furnaces or kilns.
	Liner - Modular / Sectional		Modular or sectional lining systems consist of a series of interlocking components that fit or stack together to form a protective furnace lining. Induction furnaces often utilize a modular furnace lining system fabricated from ceramics that do not interfere with the inductive heating process. Liners may use a backup of ramming cement behind the liner, but not within the interlocking grooves.  Removal of refractory cement between the ceramic sections improves lining life and quality of the melt.  Tongue and groove crucibles are a modular crucible system consisting of a series of interlocking components that stack together to form a furnace lining or crucible.
	Spout /  Nozzle (Launder Pouring / Atomization)		Pouring nozzles or orifices are used to direct or meter the flow of molten metal or other melted materials. Atomization nozzles are a critical component in the gas atomization process used to product metal powders. Ceramic nozzles are also used to shield other components of a system from arcs or abrasive jet/blast streams. Pouring cups, pouring tubes, tundish nozzles, and continuous casting tips also fit into this category.  A launder or spout is used delivery molten metal or molten glass from a furnace to ladle or crucible, from furnace to furnace, or from a furnace or crucible to a mold or forming equipment.
	Plate / Board (e.g., Fiberboard)		Stock products are available in the form of a solid plate, slab, board, or substrate. The board or plate may consist of a ceramic fiberboard product, a dense sintered ceramic plate, or a precast cement bonded slab.
	Powder / Aggregate (Grain / Grog)		Stock products are available in a particulate form such as a powder, grog, grain, or fused and crushed aggregate.
	Precursor / Sol-gel		Stock or standard products are available in the form of a liquid, solid or gaseous chemical precursor, or sol-gel chemical components. Sol-gel ceramics are made using alkoxide precursor chemicals.
	Bar Stock		Stock products are available in the form of a bar or rod, usually with a square cross-section. Stock forms can be processed in rectangular, oval, hexagonal, or other shapes.
	Block		Blocks are building materials or masonry units consisting of fired ceramic or cement materials with a regular shape. Blocks usually have a rectangular shape, although specialized shapes are used for paving, refractory, decorative and other specialized applications. Refractory or fireclay blocks are manufactured from temperature resistant materials.  Refractory blocks are stacked to form an insulating furnace, boiler, or other thermal process vessel wall.  The refractory blocks are usually cemented together with a refractory mortar. Blocks are similar to bricks but typically smaller in overall dimensions.
	Fabricated / Custom Shape		Materials are fabricated in the form of a custom or application-specific shape such as a crucible, valve seat, blade, fired custom shaped brick or block, custom contoured tile, diffuser, furnace lining, degasser, and precast cement or concrete structural shape. The custom shape could be fabricated using pressing, slip casting, firing or sintering, melting, casting, cement form casting, and/or other processing methods.
	Ferrule / Eyelet		Ferrules and eyelets are cylindrically-shaped ceramic components with a central bore for protection or spacing applications. Refractory ferrules provide the best protection possible for vulnerable boiler tube inlet areas and metal tube sheets in sulfur recovery units (SRUs), methane reformers and waste heat boilers (WHBs). Eyelets are used in textile and wear guide applications.  Ceramic ferrules or stand-offs are used in circuit board, fiber optic, and RF & microwave applications. Electronic ferrules or stand-offs required good dielectric properties.  Optical ceramic ferrules are used in the alignment of optical fiber. Electronic ferrules are used in spacing or insulating electronic components.
	Filter / Diffuser		Spargers or diffusers are porous ceramics used to blow fine bubbles of a gas into a metal melt to remove impurities, particulates or other detrimental melt gases, de-oxidize melts, and enable chemical reactions. Filters are porous ceramics are used to remove impurities by passing the molten materials through the filter.
	Tile		Tile consists of a flat, thin ceramic shape usually with beveled edges for lining or covering a surface. Tile may have square, rectangular, hexagonal, triangular, round or custom shapes.  Tiles often have a protective glaze to create a waterproof or water resistance surface.  Tile can be smooth and glossy for wall applications, or anti-slip textured with a matt finish for floor applications.
	Wafer Carrier / Holder		Wafer carriers and holders are specialized devices for processing of silicon or compound (GaAs) semiconductor wafers. Ceramics are used to fabricate wafer carriers due to their corrosion resistance and refractoriness. Wafers are mounted onto or held by the carriers during dicing, polishing, lapping, thinning, chemical mechanical planarization (CMP), inspection or other operations.
	Wafer / Substrate		Ceramic products in the form of thin substrates and wafers are used in semiconductor, thin and thick-film deposition, and optoelectronics applications. The ceramic material may be a dielectric insulator, a semiconductor, or a semi-insulator. Wafers for semiconductor applications usually consist of round substrates that are precision-polished and planarized.
	Rod Stock		Stock products are available in the form of a rod or a bar with a round cross-section.
	Roller / Roll		Rolls or rollers are tube or hollow shaped components used in bearing, rolling, and material handling applications.  Ceramic rollers are a key component in hybrid ceramic roller bearings.  Ceramic or fused silica rolls are used in furnaces to handle or move hot glass sheet or other thermally processed materials.
	Tube Stock		Tube stock has a single, central bore or inner diameter. Tubes are commonly used as heating elements, for thermocouple protection, or channeling molten metal.
	Tube / Sheath - Immersion (Closed End)		Sheathed, immersion, or closed-end tubes are designed to protect heating elements, burners, or other devices in high-temperature furnaces from immersion in molten metals, glasses, or other melted materials.
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	Hollow Particle / Shape?		Materials are supplied or available as hollow tubes, pipes or other stock with an open internal bore.
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Dimensions

	Thickness / Wall Thickness		The thickness of a stock form, tube wall, or other fabricated component. Stock forms include bars, rods, plates and tubes.
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	Bore Diameter (I.D.)		The bore diameter or inner diameter (ID) is the width at the bottom of fabricated, tapered components such as crucibles.
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	Length		The length of a stock material such as a bar, rod, plate or tube.
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Physical & Optical Properties

	Diameter		The width is the outer diameter (O.D.) of stock shapes such as bars, plates, and tubes; or of fabricated components such as crucibles.
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	Density		Density is the mass per unit area for a material.  The fired density is dependent on the theoretical density of 100% dense body and the actual porosity retained after processing.
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Thermal

	Max Use / Curie Temperature		This is the maximum temperature that the refractory or ceramic material can be exposed to momentarily without the degradation of structural or other required end-use properties.  The maximum use temperature is usually equal to the melt temperature of the metal, glass, or other material contained by the refractory body in the furnace, boiler or process unit. The Curie point is the temperature above which a material loses its unique magnetic, dielectric or piezoelectric property.  Ferrites or other magnetic materials lose their unique magnetic properties above the Curie temperature. The relative permeability drops to a value below 0.1 above the Curie temperature.  Magnetic susceptibility is inversely proportional to temperature.
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	Thermal Conductivity		Thermal conductivity is the linear heat transfer per unit area through a material for a given applied temperature gradient. Heat flux (h) = [thermal conductivity (k) ] x [temperature gradient (Δ T)]
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	Coeff. of Thermal Expansion (CTE)		The coefficient of linear expansion (CTE) is the amount of linear expansion or shrinkage that occurs in a material with a change in temperature.
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Mechanical

	MOR / Flexural Strength		Modulus of rupture (MOR), cross-break strength or flexural strength (3-point or 4-point) is the maximum flexural stress a bar can withstand before failure or fracture occurs. The bar is supported by two points beneath the bar and the load is applied by one or two points above the bar. Cross break strength is used to evaluate the strength of ceramics or other materials that do not provide sufficient plastic deformation to test tensile strength reliably.
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	Compressive / Crushing Strength		The crushing or compressive strength is the maximum compressive load per unit cross section that a ceramic body can withstand before mechanical failure or breakage occurs.
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	Modulus of Elasticity		Young's modulus or the modulus of elasticity is a material constant that indicates the variation is strain produced under an applied tensile load.  Higher modulus of elasticity materials provides higher stiffness or rigidity.
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Electrical

	Dielectric Strength		Dielectric strength is the maximum voltage field that the ceramic or material can withstand before electrical breakdown occurs.
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	Electrical Resistivity		Electrical resistivity is the longitudinal electrical resistance (ohm-cm) of a uniform rod of unit length and unit cross-sectional area. Electrical resistivity is the inverse of conductivity. High resistivity is a defining characteristic of a dielectric material.
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Features

	Performance Features:
	Your choices are...
	Machinable		Machinable ceramics can be machined in the green, glass or finished state without excessive chipping. Typically, non-machinable ceramics are ground to finished dimensions, often with super abrasive grinding wheels.
	Modified / Doped		Materials are modified or doped with ions or additions of another ceramic to impart specific properties or improve processing.
	Porous / Foam		Porous ceramics have a large degree of open or closed internal pores that provide a thermal barrier.  Certain ceramics have intrinsically low thermal conductivity, even in dense forms.  Reticulated foam refractories are useful in filtering molten metals and providing an extremely low density structure for insulation or other applications.
	Specialty / Other		Other unlisted, specialized, or proprietary material features.
	Coated		Coated materials use or are available with a glaze (fused glass enamel), metallized coating, plastic coating or other protective coating. The coating may seal porosity, improve water or chemical resistance, or enhance joining to metals or other materials. This category also includes glass materials with an organic coating or film, or ceramic frit coating for spandrel applications.
	Composite / Ceramic Matrix		Composite materials consist of a matrix material reinforced with a stronger or higher modulus second phase.  The second phase may be in the form of particulates, chopped fibers or continuous fibers.  The matrix may consist of a ceramic in CRC or ceramic matrix composites.  Ceramic or reinforcing fibers are commonly chosen with high modulus and/or strength.
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