During the Second World War, the science of metallurgy thrived and prospered manifolds. Necessity is the mother of all inventions. During this period, a craving need was felt for better materials that could sustain high pressures and temperatures and yet serve the demanding needs of operations. The infantry was expected to travel light and could not afford to carry replacement parts along with ammunition. The science of logistics was also evolving. Hence maintenance and repair operations were considered a luxury than a necessity.
It was during these difficult times for metallurgical sciences that a new material was identified. Ceramics were remodelled to form a new brand of materials that would sustain the challenging circumstances and come good on most expectations. What’s more the raw material required for this new ceramic was equally cheap and hence, it was a win-win situation for the manufacturers. This synthetic silicon carbide compound later went on to be named as ‘Wear Resistant Ceramic’.
The Silicon ceramic vase carbide compound was extremely hard and almost wear-proof. The chemistry of bonds in the ceramic spanned out in such a manner that the nitrite bonded silicon compound exhibited great covalence and ability to resist corrosion at any temperature, pressure, humidity and pH value. As an immediate application the compound was used in mining and mineral processing operations. The results were along expected lines and wear resistant ceramics announced their arrival on grand scale.
The wear resistant ceramic showed an uncommon ability to withstand mechanical phenomenon like corrosion, wear, rust, erosion, scrapping, etc. these unavoidable mechanical side-effects were prime reason for most manufacturing activities being high on cost and low on returns. These ceramics ensured that the downtime associated with the processes were low and manageable.
Currently, the wear resistant ceramics are available in various forms. Boron, Tungsten, Nitride, etc. are some of the available additives in modern ceramics. Some of the common applications of these ceramics are found in armoured vehicles, forming, polishing and lapping processes in foundries, pumps, jets, etc. In addition, general consumption components are now casted and made from wear resistant ceramics to counter for the high replacement costs and downtime expenses.
Some of the properties of wear resistant ceramics that make them stand out from rest of the materials include its non-porous surface that does not let any impurities enter or dent the material couture. Ceramics demonstrate high electrical stability. They are bad conductors of electricity thereby aiding in using them for critical applications. The wear resistant ceramics are highly elastic in nature.
They wear resistant ceramics demonstrate high quotient for Young’s Modulus of elasticity indicating their adaptability to variety of shapes and sized. The life of a ceramic is not determined by the shelf life of the material. Being a synthetic compound the ceramics can theoretically survive till times unlimited. They are extremely hard materials that sustain wear and abrasion causing elements and work to the advantage of the user due to their longevity of operations.
In the modern production circles, corporate are not shy on investing big on onetime expenses. However the Operating Expenditure (OPEX) should justify the investments in the long run. The wear resistant ceramic can virtually fit into any type of component and can be modelled accordingly. The product bandwidth varies from the simplest versions of silica to the complicated tungsten ceramics. The future certainly holds adequate business sense for organizations to align themselves with Wear resistant ceramics.