Expertise Large components made of technical ceramics

Extensive experience and unique know-how in the production of large components requires appropriate process control and handling of the components along the entire process chain.

Producing high-quality large components from technical ceramics is an enormous challenge. Appropriate process control and handling of the components along the entire process chain are of crucial importance. This creates crack-free prefabricated parts that are ideally suited to our customers' technical applications. 

We set the right course for successful production right at the beginning of the process with our own powder preparation. Our finely-tuned compositions and processing parameters enable the raw material to be specifically adjusted to the subsequent process steps. The right size of processing machines and particularly gentle handling are of essential importance when green machining the green body to avoid hidden defects that would prove to be critical in subsequent production steps. Sinter firing is the greatest challenge in the manufacture of large components. In addition to shrinking by around 50 per cent by volume, the ceramic undergoes a fundamental transformation: Loosely connected individual particles become a dense ceramic matrix. The larger the component, the greater the assumed internal stresses in the ceramic structure. Precise firing with slow temperature changes and homogeneous temperature distribution in the component are essential at this point. In this crucial process step, we can fall back on decades of experience in ceramic production. Large-format components often have precise and strict requirements for dimensional accuracy and surface properties. Both can be achieved by suitable finishing. This requires special processing machines that are not only of the required size but also have the necessary precision. Our large machine park, including 5-axis CNC machining centres, can carry out optimal hard machining. For component formats and sizes that cannot be manufactured in one piece, we have a wide range of joining methods available. For electrically insulating components, two ceramic parts can be joined using a special glass solder. We achieve the production of large metal-ceramic composite parts using sophisticated metallization and soldering technology. Both methods create highly vacuum-tight connections. Our soldering systems are among the largest of their kind in Europe.  

Such components are used, for example, in basic research in physics, especially in particle accelerators. The conditions prevailing in this environment require suitability for use in ultra-high vacuums as an essential property of the components used. Large components from Kyocera meet all these and other requirements.