Technical Ceramic Materials
Skip to: Alumina • Aluminum Nitride • Boron Carbide • Carbon / Graphite • Magnesia • Polycrystalline YAG • Quartz • Silicates • Silicon • Silicon Carbide • Silicon Nitride • Titanate • Tungsten Carbide • Yttria • Zirconia • Specialty
Unparalleled Ceramic Materials Expertise
With one of the largest material and process portfolios in the industry, CoorsTek is the leader in technical ceramics manufacturing. Our extensive material portfolio allows us the unique ability to offer a wide range of material property combinations and the ability to solve complex engineering challenges.
Starting with our customers’ component design or particular application need, we select the optimal material from over 400 proprietary material formulations. Our engineers then work to select the ideal forming, firing, and finishing methods to ensure an optimal end product.
Why Ceramics?
Technical ceramics are an important part of our daily lives. From the sensors in our cars to hip implant components to the semiconductor manufacturing process, ceramics do what plastics, metals, and other materials cannot.
But what are ceramics? They're not just used in pottery. Ceramics are hard inorganic, nonmetallic materials with an impressive capability to hold their properties in extreme environments requiring excellent mechanical, chemical, electrical, and thermal wear resistances. Other materials may excel in one area, but advanced technical ceramics offer exceptional versatility, with material properties that can be manipulated to perform in a specified application.
Select a property below or you can download The Powerhouse of Advanced Materials: Ceramics that contains the various material properties, data charts, and applications here.
Technical Ceramic Manufacturing Methods & Processes
In addition to our extensive material portfolio, CoorsTek offers a vast range of manufacturing processes and methods. Learn more about CoorsTek capabilities >>>
CoorsTek Material Families
Skip to: Alumina • Aluminum Nitride • Boron Carbide • Carbon / Graphite • Magnesia • Polycrystalline YAG • Quartz • Silicates • Silicon • Silicon Carbide • Silicon Nitride • Titanate • Tungsten Carbide • Yttria • Zirconia • Specialty
Alumina
Aluminas (aluminum oxide, Al2O3) are the most commonly used technical ceramics due to their generally useful properties and good price/performance ratio.
Aluminum Nitride
Aluminum Nitrides (AlN) combine high thermal conductivity with strong electrical resistance, making AlN an excellent solution for many electronic applications. Unlike most electrically insulative materials — which are often also thermally insulative — AlN allows electrical systems to dissipate heat quickly in order to maintain maximum efficiency.
bORON CARBIDE
Boron carbide (B4C) is one of the world's hardest manufactured materials. Its strong chemical bonds and hard surface minimize wear in rigorous environments. The hardness provides excellent protection, while the light-weight maximizes mobility.
cARBON / gRAPHITE
CoorsTek carbon and graphite both have high purity, thermal conductivity, and electrical conductance. The unique combination of purity and thermal conductivity prevents contamination and thermal shock: making the material ideal for both semiconductor manufacturing and high-strength electronics.
mAGNESIA
Magnesia (magnesium oxide, MgO) provides outstanding high-temperature performance.
pOLYCRYSTALLINE YAG
High-purity Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (YAG) ceramics enable the development of high output, solid state lasers critical to the function of numerous technologies. CoorsTek has developed state-of-the-art transparent YAG optoceramics, which remove many of the barriers presented by single crystal YAG, delivering optimal performance at scale.
Quartz
Synthetic quartz or fused silica (silicon oxide, SiO2) ceramics exhibit excellent thermal shock resistance due to extremely low thermal expansion and extreme purity.
Silicates
Silicate ceramics, the oldest family of ceramics, are multi-phase materials developed from natural silicate sources such as clay, kaolin, feldspar, and soapstone. Today’s silicates evolved from traditional ceramics and are useful for cost-effective technical applications such as electrical insulators and chemical labware. CoorsTek Silicates include:
Silicon
Single crystal silicon (Si), the same material used in silicon semiconductor wafers, has almost no impurities.
Silicon Carbide
Silicon Carbides (SiC) exhibit characteristically high hardness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and strength — even at high temperatures. CoorsTek has engineered a variety of silicon carbide processes and compositions which deliver properties and features optimized for specific application requirements.
Silicon Nitride
Silicon Nitrides (Si3N4) have a unique grain structure which delivers both exceedingly high strength and toughness and exceptionally high thermal shock resistance — making it ideal for applications with high dynamic stresses, thermal rigor, and demanding reliability requirements.
Titanate
CoorsTek Titanate formulations are used as dielectric resonators in antennas. The unique dielectric properties of this ceramic allow for improving compactness and efficiency.
Tungsten Carbide
Tungsten Carbide (WC) is a tough, high-density ceramic often used in severe service applications. Tungsten carbides are commonly known for use in high-quality tooling inserts. Due to its high-temperature tolerance, stiffness, hardness, and flexural strength allow tungsten carbide is also used in other harsh applications like mechanical seals and downhole drilling components.
Yttria
Yttria (yttrium oxide, Y2O3) is a rare-earth ceramic which exhibits both exceptional plasma resistance and an aptitude for high-temperature applications. Yttria is often used to stabilize other ceramic compositions like zirconia
Zirconia
Zirconias have a unique crystal structure which combines extreme strength, high fracture toughness, and excellent wear resistance. CoorsTek has engineered transformation toughened formulations with zirconia crystal structures which expand when a micro-crack is formed — preventing further crack growth and arresting brittle failure.
Specialty
CoorsTek offers a variety of specialty ceramics to solve even the toughest of challenges. From translucent ceramics to active ceramic membranes, our experts can work with you to find the best solutions for your application.
