New Areas of Application for Ceramic-Metal Assemblies
30 January 2008
There are many well known areas of application for ceramic-metal assemblies: feed-throughs, vacuum insulating tubes, supports for industrial coating or antennas for radar and microwave applications. However, new and improved constructions are being developed as high-tech products evolve. Through the combination of FRIALIT®-ceramics and metals, new properties can be achieved that were previously beyond reach. Today, most industries use FRIALIT -ceramics as a part of their industrial plants and systems.
Thanks to ductile transitional materials like copper, metals with divergent thermal expansion coefficients vis a vis ceramics can be soldered together. There are also several different types of ceramics, each with their own inherent properties. The application areas of ceramics can be further expanded through glazing or metallization of the ceramic surface. Glynwed/Friatec frequently develops new material properties, production processes and areas of application together with their customers.
This cooperation has made possible diverse constructions for extreme high-pressure and high temperature for the offshore and sub sea industry as well as space technology applications. Some examples are: components for pressure and temperature monitoring sensors, sensors for level gauging equipment (both capacitive and microwave based measurement) sensor rings for multiple phase measurement and high-pressure feed-throughs.
Through the use of new and improved machining and grinding techniques, reproducibility of the highest order of precision and surface finish can be achieved. This can be seen in the example of the metal to ceramic component in the focusing unit of an electron microscope having the tolerance of ±l0,001 mm, a necessity for the proper function of the microscope. Similar high precision components made for the health care industry are currently in use in electron accelerators for tumour treatment.
