materials

Summary

Silicon Carbide has been a staple in manufacturing for over a century, but has been increasingly in demand as a medium for tight-tolerance machined components. Silicon Carbide has excellent strength and hardness, but also relatively low density, meaning is has among the greatest strength-to-mass ratios of any technical ceramic available. Much like Silicon Nitride, and Boron Carbide, some forms of Silicon Carbide (Electrical Low Resistivity or ELR SiC) are electrically conductive, and can be EDMed for precision components to produce geometries that cannot be achieved through traditional or ultrasonic machining. As an extremely hard material, expertise in this ceramic is required to yield good parts, as conventional strategies will result in excessive tool wear and not meet spec. Click here for our contact information or to request a quote, and we will show you why more engineers are trusting us with their mission-critical needs.

Applications

Silicon Carbide is found in many industries, from cutting tools and polishing wheels in manufacturing, to turbine components, to heat exchangers, and even armor plating for military applications. Due to its relatively high cost and degree of difficulty for machining, most Silicon Carbide applications call for relatively low-tolerance or geometrically simple components, but precision components are very achievable with proper machining strategy. 

Properties