What are the applications of silicon nitride ceramic sealing rings

---

Dichtungsring aus Siliziumnitridkeramik, as a high-performance engineering ceramic component, is increasingly becoming the preferred material for many harsh working conditions. It solves the long-term problems of wear, corrosion, and reliability faced by traditional sealing materials with its unique comprehensive performance. This article will systematically sort out its wide application fields and deeply explain how it has become the “problem terminator” in these fields.

Core advantage: Why is silicon nitride an ideal material for sealing rings?
Before exploring specific applications, we first need to understand why silicon nitride ceramics are so outstanding. The fundamental problems it can solve stem from its excellent material properties:
Extremely high hardness and wear resistance: Its hardness is second only to diamond and cubic boron nitride, and it can effectively resist the wear and self friction of granular media, with an extremely long service life.
Ausgezeichnete Korrosionsbeständigkeit: able to withstand the corrosion of most strong acids, alkalis, and salt solutions, and capable of withstanding harsh chemical environments.
Geringe Dichte und geringes Gewicht: weighing only 40% of steel, it can significantly reduce the inertia of high-speed rotating components and improve equipment response speed.
Hohe Festigkeit und Zähigkeit: The bending strength and fracture toughness rank among the top in ceramics, and can withstand high mechanical pressure and impact.
Self lubrication and low friction coefficient: When paired with abrasive materials such as graphite, the friction coefficient is low, the operation is smooth, and the power consumption is low.
Ausgezeichnete thermische Stabilität: It can maintain stable performance at high temperatures above 1200 ℃, with a small coefficient of thermal expansion and good thermal shock resistance (able to withstand drastic temperature changes).
In summary, the core value of silicon nitride sealing rings lies in their ability to solve the pain points of insufficient performance of traditional materials (such as metals and alumina ceramics) in high-speed, high temperature, strong corrosion, strong wear, and conditions that require long life and high reliability.

Detailed explanation of main application areas
The application of silicon nitride ceramic sealing rings covers various key fields of modern industry. Below is a detailed breakdown by industry.

1. Chemical and process industries
   This is one of the earliest and most important application areas of silicon nitride sealing rings.
   Anwendungsszenario:
   Shaft seals for centrifugal pumps, reactors, mixers, compressors, valves, and other equipment.
   A pump that transports slurry or suspension containing solid particles, crystals, or fibers (i.e., a “slurry pump”).
   Processes involving corrosive media such as strong acids (such as sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid) and strong bases (such as sodium hydroxide).
   Problem gelöst:
   Wear resistance challenge: Traditional hard alloy seals are quickly worn out during the transportation of slurry, and the extremely high hardness of silicon nitride ensures its long service life in granular media.
   Corrosion problem: Stainless steel and even Hastelloy can be corroded in specific strong corrosive media, while silicon nitride is almost completely inert, ensuring the integrity of the seal and equipment safety.
   Reliability challenge: Avoiding unplanned downtime caused by frequent seal failures, ensuring stable operation of continuous production, reducing maintenance costs and material leakage risks.
2. Automobilbranche
   In today’s pursuit of high efficiency and energy conservation, silicon nitride sealing rings play an important role in key automotive components.
   Anwendungsszenario:
   New energy vehicle water pump: an electronic water pump used for battery cooling systems and motor cooling systems.
   Turbocharger: Used for the electronic control actuator (wastegate) of the turbocharger.
   Problem gelöst:
   High temperature resistance and corrosion resistance: Automotive coolant is exposed to high temperatures for a long time and has chemical corrosiveness, and silicon nitride can perfectly cope with it.
   High speed and long lifespan: New energy vehicle water pumps require speeds of up to tens of thousands of revolutions per minute. The lightweight and low friction properties of silicon nitride reduce power consumption and wear, achieving the design goal of having the same lifespan as the entire vehicle.
   Reliability: The high ambient temperature and vibration of the turbocharger, coupled with the stability and high strength of silicon nitride, ensure precise and reliable control.
3. Semiconductor manufacturing industry
   In extremely precise semiconductor manufacturing, any contamination can result in the entire batch of wafers being scrapped.
   Anwendungsszenario:
   High purity pump: a pump that transports ultrapure water, chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) slurry, high-purity etching solution, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) precursor.
   Problem gelöst:
   Metal pollution control: Metal seals release metal ions to contaminate ultra pure media, while silicon nitride is a non-metallic material that fundamentally eliminates metal pollution sources.
   Resistant to corrosion from ultrapure water and chemicals: Even ultrapure water has strong corrosiveness and can dissolve most metals. Silicon nitride is completely immune to this.
   Resistant to slurry wear: CMP slurry contains nanoscale abrasives, and the wear resistance of silicon nitride ensures the size stability of the seal during long-term operation without generating additional particles.
4. Deep sea and military industry
   These fields have almost stringent requirements for the reliability and ultimate performance of equipment.
   Anwendungsszenario:
   Sealing of thrust bearings and hydraulic systems for deep-sea drilling platforms and submarines.
   Cooling and lubrication systems for heavy equipment such as warships and tanks.
   Problem gelöst:
   High reliability: In deep-sea or battlefield environments where maintenance is not easy, seal failure can be catastrophic. The ultra long lifespan and high reliability of silicon nitride are the guarantee of life safety and national assets.
   High pressure resistance and corrosion resistance: In deep-sea environments with enormous pressure and strong corrosiveness of seawater, the comprehensive performance of silicon nitride is sufficient to cope.
5. Other high-end industrial sectors
   Food and pharmaceuticals: meet hygiene requirements, resistant to corrosion by cleaning agents, non polluting, used for sterile pumps, homogenizers, etc.
   Electricity and Energy: Used for feed pumps, desulfurization pumps, etc. in large boilers, resistant to high temperatures, corrosion, and particle wear.
   Aerospace: Fuel pumps, hydraulic systems, etc. used in aircraft engines to meet the requirements of lightweight, high-strength, and extreme temperature resistance.

Silicon nitride ceramic sealing rings have gradually transformed from a “high-end option” to a “standard configuration” in many critical applications. Its value lies not only in its excellent performance, but also in the reliability improvement, maintenance cost reduction, energy consumption reduction, and production efficiency leap it brings to the entire industrial system.

Brudeze Keramiken liefert und verkauft eine breite Palette von hochwertigem Quarzglas, einschließlich Aluminiumoxidkeramik, Zirkoniumdioxidkeramik, Siliziumnitridkeramik, Aluminiumnitridkeramik, Siliziumkarbidkeramik, Borkarbidkeramik, Biokeramik, maschinell bearbeitbare Keramik usw. Wir sind in der Lage, die Anforderungen an die Anpassung verschiedener Keramikprodukte zu erfüllen.