Silicon Carbide

• Extremely high hardness
• Wear resistant
• Corrosion resistant
• Lightweight – Low Density
• High thermal conductivity
• High Young’s modulus
• Low thermal expansion coefficient
• Chemically and thermally resistant
• Outstanding thermal shock resistance
• Refractive index greater than a diamond

• Valve seats
• Sliding bearings
• Mechanical seals
• Plungers
• Seal rings (water ring pumps)
• Wear parts (thread guides)
• Kiln furniture crucibles
• Burners
• Blast nozzles
• Heat exchangers

Silicon Carbide can be machined in green, biscuit, or fully dense states. While in the green or biscuit form it can be machined relatively easily into complex geometries. However, the sintering process that is required to fully densify the material causes the Silicon Carbide body to shrink approximately 20%. This shrinkage means that it is impossible to hold very tight tolerances when machining Silicon Carbide pre-sintering. In order to achieve very tight tolerances, fully sintered material must be machined/ground with diamond tools.  In this process a very precise diamond coated tool/wheel is used to abrade away the material until the desired form is created. Due to the inherit toughness and hardness of the material, this can be a time consuming and costly process.