General Characteristics:
As a rule, ceramic balls resist corrosion and abrasion extremely well. They also have low thermal conductivity, and a high resistance to heat. Ruby sapphire material can withstand extended exposure to temperatures in excess of 3250°F. These qualities make ceramic balls useful for flow control, metering, and bearing applications.

Applications:
Check Valves:
As check valves, ceramic balls are extremely hard, resistant to abrasion, and immune to furnace atmospheres. Choose a ceramic ball where heat, corrosion, and/or abrasion resistance is needed.

Flowmeters:
Some ceramics are used on flowmeters where the ball position on a scale indicates rate of flow. The red opaque color of ruby sapphire makes this material ideal for flowmeters. Ruby sapphire balls are also used in gaging devices because of their great resistance to wear and their minimal thermal expansion.

Bearings:
The low coefficient of thermal expansion makes ceramics attractive alternatives to metals in certain bearing applications. Compared to steel, their coefficient of thermal expansion is just 25% - making them less likely to increase bearing friction as heat increases.

Additionally, since ceramic balls absorb less heat, cooling requirements for ceramic bearings are much lower.

Materials and Grades:
ITI produces ceramic balls from zirconia, silicon carbide, alumina oxide, ruby sapphire, and silicon nitride. Standard sizes range from 0.125" to 3.0" and smaller and larger sizes can be custom-made to your specifications. Since they are used in both bearings and valves, ITI produces both valve and bearing grade balls. Refer to our Ball Grade table for the exact tolerances available.

Precision and Quality:
ITI's high level of quality, combined with the great wear and heat resistance of ceramic balls make them integral parts in many designs. Your ITI representative will be glad to help you specify the best ceramic material for your design.

Remember: make ITI your first choice when considering Ceramic Balls . ITI Ball has extensive Ceramic Balls experience and can satisfy your rigorous requirements!

Applications:
Because their polished surfaces provide an extremely good seal, glass balls are ideal for check valves in food processing, pharmaceutical, and photographic processing equipment. Black glass balls are used in flowmeters, slip and turn indicators, and other aircraft instrumentation. Fiber optics applications often rely on glass balls because they can be made optically clear.

Features:
Glass balls are dimensionally stable, resist corrosion and chemical absorption well, and can withstand temperatures up to 600°F. Glass balls vary in density depending on the type of glass they're made from, thus they're widely used in applications requiring a ball of a certain specific gravity.

Materials:
We can manufacture high precision glass balls to your specifications from borosilicate, soda-lime, and black glass.

Grades and Tolerances:
Grades and tolerances are specific to each application. Call us with a description of your application and we will assist you in specifying the glass ball that best meets your requirements.

Remember: make ITI your first choice when considering Glass Balls . ITI Ball has extensive Glass Balls experience and can satisfy your rigorous requirements!

CERBEC ® ceramic balls are used in hybrid bearings for a wide variety of applications.

CERBEC Balls are made from two types of silicon nitrides made by Saint-Gobain Ceramics: NBD200 and SN101C. They are both fabricated using glass encapsulation HIPing which assures 100% density, high beta phase content,micron-sized grains, and minimal levels of glass phase.

NBD-200 is a "Magnesia" doped materia. It is Hot Isostatically Pressed (HIP) and meets the demanding requirements of ball bearing and check valve applications.

Due to the HIP processing, it has zero porosity, fine grain microstructures, minimal level of dopant, and appropriate levels of strength, hardness, toughness, and rolling contact fatigue behavior to work exceptionally well in ball bearing and check valve applications.

The dopant or "sintering aid" is the controlling factor concerning corrosion resistance. Magnesia based silicon nitrides are highly inert in most liquids and gases.

CERBEC ® ceramic balls are used in hybrid bearings for a wide variety of applications.

CERBEC Balls are made from two types of silicon nitrides made by Saint-Gobain Ceramics: NBD200 and SN101C. They are both fabricated using glass encapsulation HIPing which assures 100% density, high beta phase content,micron-sized grains, and minimal levels of glass phase.

NBD-200 is a "Magnesia" doped materia. It is Hot Isostatically Pressed (HIP) and meets the demanding requirements of ball bearing and check valve applications.

Due to the HIP processing, it has zero porosity, fine grain microstructures, minimal level of dopant, and appropriate levels of strength, hardness, toughness, and rolling contact fatigue behavior to work exceptionally well in ball bearing and check valve applications.

The dopant or "sintering aid" is the controlling factor concerning corrosion resistance. Magnesia based silicon nitrides are highly inert in most liquids and gases.

SN-101C is a "Yttria" doped materia. It is Hot Isostatically Pressed (HIP) and meets the demanding requirements of ball bearing and check valve applications. Due to the HIP processing, it has zero porosity, fine grain microstructures, minimal level of dopant, and appropriate levels of strength, hardness, toughness, and rolling contact fatigue behavior to work exceptionally well in ball bearing and check valve applications.

The dopant or "sintering aid" is the controlling factor concerning corrosion resistance. Magnesia based silicon nitrides are highly inert in most liquids and gases.

NBD-200 is a "Magnesia" doped materia. It is Hot Isostatically Pressed (HIP) and meets the demanding requirements of ball bearing and check valve applications. Due to the HIP processing, it has zero porosity, fine grain microstructures, minimal level of dopant, and appropriate levels of strength, hardness, toughness, and rolling contact fatigue behavior to work exceptionally well in ball bearing and check valve applications.

The dopant or "sintering aid" is the controlling factor concerning corrosion resistance. Magnesia based silicon nitrides are highly inert in most liquids and gases.