Milling Media

Selecting the Right Milling Media: Technical Ceramics or Steel?

The grinding process is an age-old method that hasn’t changed much with time. Whether you are dealing with feed grinding or surface grinding, the same basic principles apply. Hard abrasive media is used to grind material down to finer consistencies, or to remove material for an optimal surface finish. This applies whether you are looking to achieve the ideal particle size for specific analytical methods or to prepare homogenous powders for further downstream processing.

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Could 3D Printing Advanced Ceramic Materials Accelerate Vaccine Development?

Various agencies around the world have long highlighted a potential pandemic as one of the greatest threats to global health. Before the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-COV) in 2002, institutions like the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) developed various models for influenza pandemic planning. These models extol the importance of social distancing in buying time for immunologists to develop an effective vaccine. However, the conventional timeline for vaccine development and testing can be torturously slow.

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Alumina refractory insulators

Oxide Technical Ceramics: Alumina & Zirconia

Technical ceramics are an advanced class of materials primarily used in tough mechanical engineering applications and environments associated with refractory temperatures or harsh corrosive conditions. Characterised by remarkable thermomechanical properties and wide-ranging resistance to common alkalis, acids, and harsher corrosive agents, fine ceramic materials are used to satisfy some of the most stringent operating objectives in modern industry.Continue reading

Molten Metal Forming

Using Sialons in Aluminium Handling and Smelting

Updated: Originally published on 31/05/2018

Aluminium is one of the most readily-consumed metals on the planet, with production of alloys based predominantly on aluminium topping an average 64 million tonnes per annum. This excludes the growing volume of secondary, or recycled, aluminium which is estimated at a yearly 12 million tonnes. Despite the metal’s ubiquity, there are difficulties associated with aluminium handling and processing, which necessitate advanced material solutions.

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Non-Oxide Technical Ceramics: Sialons & SiC

Technical ceramics are among the most advantageous engineering materials ever developed, characterized by a diverse range of chemical, electrical, and thermomechanical properties. From hard-wearing silicon carbide (SiC) armour plates to piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO), components based on fine ceramic materials have permeated a broad range of market sectors. This far-reaching applicability stems from the compositional variety of ceramic compositions.

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Alumina refractory insulators

What is Alumina?

Alumina (Al2O3), otherwise known as aluminum oxide, is an advanced refractory belonging to the oxide group of technical ceramics. It is an extremely versatile material that can be bonded and formed using a broad range of consolidation and sintering techniques, yielding precise near-net shapes in a range of purities.Continue reading