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What is ceramic injection molding (CIM)?

Ceramic injection molding (CIM) refers to the process by which custom ceramic parts are fabricated using the injection mold process similar to that used with plastics. A pelletized blend of Alumina powder and certain binders are pre-heated and then forced under high pressure into a custom-made mold to form parts to the customer’s specific part design. Once the part is removed from the mold, it undergoes several additional processes including sintering at high temperature.

What is ceramic injection molding (CIM)

Materials used in the ceramic injection molding

When it comes to specific materials in ceramic injection molding, there’s a catalog of available options on the market. These materials have different properties, especially in reference to their hardness, density, temperature stability, etc. The most reliable materials used for ceramic injection molding include:

* Alumina ceramics: This is one of the most widely used materials in ceramic injection molding. Features include high levels of electrical insulation, resistance to corrosion and heat, and mechanical strength.

* Zirconia ceramics: As perhaps the strongest ceramic material, Zirconia is used for a variety of applications, including medical and dental purposes. Owing to its properties, Zirconia is highly resistant to wear and cracking, boasting an exceptional level of damage tolerance. It is also extremely stable in high-pressure situations.

* Aluminum Nitride: ALN combines high thermal conductivity with strong electrical resistance, making AlN an excellent solution for many electronic applications.

It’s important to note that there are other variations of Alumina and Zirconia ceramics that can be used. For instance, one material available is Alumina Toughened Zirconia that features high wear resistance and exceptional hardness.

Applications
The applications of CIM process are virtually boundless. As ceramic possesses high flexural strength, hardness and chemical inertness, it yields products that are highly corrosion resistant, wear resistant and have a long lifespan. Ceramic products are used in electronic assembly, tools, optical, dental, telecommunications, instrumentation, chemical plants and textile industries.

Boron Nitride Ceramics – Hot Press Sintering

Boron nitride (BN) is also called white graphite because it is white and has characteristics in common with graphite.

It is mainly divided into two forms, one is a hexagonal structure, and the other is a cubic structure. The hexagonal structure can be converted into a cubic structure under high temperature and high pressure environment conditions.

The production of boron nitride ceramics mainly uses two methods, one is the cold pressing sintering, and the other is the hot pressing sintering. The hot pressing sintering method is briefly introduced below.

Mixing the boron nitride fine powder with a certain amount of additives. There are strict requirements for the size of the boron nitride fine powder particles, which must be within 5 microns.
Predicting the pressure of the static press, the test pressure is between 100 and 150 MPa, and then pulverize the raw materials to less than 0.5 mm.
Loading the raw material into the graphite grinding tool, and then performing high under temperature and high pressure in the hot pressing furnace. There are carbon tubes in the hot pressing furnace which are mainly used for heating. The heating temperature is increased to 1600-1700 ℃ and the pressure is controlled between 20-25 MPa. It can be kept warm for about an hour. After cooling, it can be completed by machining.

Notes:

Diboron trioxide (B2O3) plays a vital role in the production of boron nitride ceramics, which affects the quality of boron nitride ceramics. If there is no boron trioxide, the density of the BN ceramics will be greatly reduced.
For boron nitride raw materials that do not contain B2O3, a binder should be appropriately added to increase the ease of thermal sintering.
If a relatively high content of diboron trioxide is contained, stabilizers need to be appropriately added. And the boron nitride ceramics after hot pressing needs to be in a vacuum environment or nitrogen environment. High temperature treatment makes the B2O3 volatilize, thereby increasing the quality of boron nitride ceramic products and maintaining their stable performance.

What can a soldering iron be used for?

Every craftsman is familiar with a soldering iron. It melts solder (a metal alloy with a low melting point), allowing the two materials to be heated and melted through a central point. It is especially convenient for merchants such as electronics technicians, jewelers, and metal workers.

It’s also safer and more accurate than melting with other heating tools like torches, and there’s almost no risk of igniting or burning the material you’re using. To learn more about what soldering irons do, here are 10 ways to do it:

Roofing welding business
Roofers often use solder to fuse the components of a copper roof. It is also used to make sparkling roofs. Since roofs do not need to be handled with the same precision as small parts, soldering irons commonly used for roofs have a wide tip that heats up quickly and is usually gas-assisted to retain their heat in windy conditions.
Weld metal sinks
Domestic metal sinks are welded together. It’s similar to what roofers use to make shiny roofs. Welding creates a permanent bond that makes the sink leak proof. Rainy days are definitely convenient!
Weld stained glass and Mosaic
The beautiful patterns of different colors that you see in stained glass and mosaics are held together by solder. These usually require a stronger 100-watt soldering iron, as well as other tools such as a glass cutter or glass grinder.
Welding of the plastic circuit board
As one of the most common uses for electric soldering irons, plastic circuit boards are used in electronics. The metal alloy of the solder establishes a continuation of the current when connecting two wires. This required precision often means using more precise tools, including temperature control of the soldering iron.
Solder for electrician
Just like circuit boards, electricians use soldering irons to splice wires in residential or commercial wiring. They also use them to fuse wires in electrical terminals or control panels.
Car maintenance solder
Although solder is not strong enough to repair engines, it is commonly used to fill irregular Spaces, smooth rough surfaces, or tighten joints. It can also be used to fill holes, fuse metal plates, and tin metal plate edges to do body repairs on your car.
Household welding tools
Another common use for soldering irons is DIY home projects by home artisans. This broad theme means that there are a variety of soldering tools to choose from, such as soldering pencils or soldering guns, in addition to the typical soldering iron.
Jewelry welding
This is another industry that requires very high precision, and jewelers often use soldering pens or irons with interchangeable soldering tips to improve accuracy. Solder also has a high silver content.
Because oxides form when metal is heated, jewelers often use borax flux to reduce oxidation and help maintain work quality.
Welding vacuum tubes
For metal-ceramic connections, vacuum tubes can be welded into sealants and insulating parts. This is important in electronics because the near vacuum allows electricity to flow freely.
Pipe welding
To be on the safe side, plumbers use lead-free solder when connecting water pipes. While large projects can often be done with a welding torch, in some cases they need to work in tight Spaces where soldering irons are safer and easier to handle.

That’s right! Soldering irons not only have several different uses, but also several different types.INNOVACERA produces ceramic heating elements for soldering irons and has cooperated with a number of well-known electronic tools.

Our heating element is the PROCESS of MCH (Metal Ceramics Heater). It is the material of tungsten, molybdenum, molybdenum, manganese, and other high melting points Metal heating resistance paste is printed on 92 ~ 96% alumina flow ceramic green billet according to the requirements of heating circuit planning, with 4 ~ 8% sintering agent multi-layer superposition. At 1500 ~ 1600°C under high temperature burning into one body has the advantages of corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, long life, high efficiency and energy saving, uniform temperature, good thermal conductivity, thermal compensation speed, and does not contain lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and other harmful substances, in line with the European Union RoHS environmental protection requirements. It is another generation product after alloy heating wire and PTC heating element.

If you have relevant requirements, feel free to contact us. Customized is accepted.

Innovacera Office Warming Party

Innovacera officially moved into new offices last week, but June 24 was the big day: all staff gathered in the new working environment to testify this important moment and had an office warming party.

At the beginning of the party, staff hangs out in the new office eating all kinds of provided foods (snacks, cakes, and drinks), and then staff sign their name in some place with best wishes.

At 10:10, the housewarming ceremony officially started! Witnessed by all the staff, Innovacera 2 boss held the unveiling ceremony, and firecrackers sounded, marking the official opening of the new office of Innovacera.

On behalf of all the executives, Mrs. Xu, the sales director, expressed warm congratulations and best wishes to Innovacera. She shared the company’s struggle with all the staff. The company’s development from initially renting an office of less than 70 square meters in 2012 years to now buying an office of 779 square meters (it has been 10 years) and have two factories of its own is inseparable from the efforts of every employee and A comprehensive outlook is given for the future development direction.

This relocation marks that Innova has entered a new starting point. I hope that the company will take this opportunity to continue to strengthen R&D investment, improve customer satisfaction, and hope to achieve the development goal of better quality in the new year.

Afterward, Mr. Qiu and Mr. Zeng joined hands to cut the cake symbolizing prosperity, pushing the atmosphere of celebration to a climax.

The spacious, bright, clean, comfortable, and pleasant office environment not only enhances the overall corporate image but also provides a solid foundation for the future development of the company.

This time office moving is an important anchor point in Innovacera’s development process, a new platform for running into the future, and a new starting line for becoming bigger and stronger.

In the future, Innovacera will continue to strive to become the most reliable supplier of advanced ceramic parts, achieve mutual success with customers, and promote the company’s continuous growth with a sustainable growth strategy.

After that, the staff begins to play games, and at last, go out and have lunch and dinner with drinking wine together. Stories and laughs were shared until wee-enough-for-Friday hours were reached.

We had a wonderful office warming party last Friday! There were lots of laughter and fun shared across our new office…

After ten years, the journey begins again. Once again we’d like to give heartfelt thanks to everybody that helped us celebrate, and to everyone who has helped Innovacera get to where we are today!

Wear Resistance Zirconia Ceramic Rotator for Sand Milling Machine

An excellent sand milling machine needs to offer the advantages of high grinding efficiency, stable performance, and high product quality.

We can provide customized high precision ceramic parts/ fittings for grinding machines, such as Ceramic dispersion plate, ceramic grinder impeller, ceramic stator, ceramic rotor, the ceramic lining of the cylinder body, and ceramic gland end bracket, ceramic gasket, and ceramic mixing rod.

Zirconia ceramic dispersing rotators are made of non-metallic materials to avoid metal contamination, It’s not only meet the hardness required for grinding efficiency, with improved toughness, and are not easily broken, but also improve the service life and use efficiency a lot.

Which Metals Work Best For Plating Ceramics?

While we often associate electroplating with metal products, the process also works with some non-metallic materials, such as ceramics. Manufacturers often choose to electroplate a coating of metal onto a ceramic substrate for the same reasons as metal-on-metal applications — increasing corrosion resistance, strengthening the product, conducting electricity, and enhancing appearance.

Upon applying the base coat such as Mo/Mn, W, the ceramic substrate is ready for electroplating with metals such as:
Gold: Gold is one of the most non-reactive metals — it is unaffected by heat or moisture, and it won’t oxidize. Gold is therefore a good electroplating choice for ceramics when corrosion protection is paramount. Of course, a gleaming gold finish can dramatically improve the appearance of a “dull” ceramic-based product. On the downside, gold is not as electrically conductive as many other metals.

Silver: Electroplating with silver is typically the best option for plating onto ceramics when increasing electrical conductivity is the primary objective. Silver also offers high thermal conductivity and good corrosion protection. Silver does tarnish easily, so a silver-plated ceramic product will require frequent cleaning and polishing to retain its luster.

Copper: Copper is renowned for its exceptional ability to conduct electricity. Copper electroplating is therefore an excellent choice for ceramic-based electronic circuits. Copper is also a soft, malleable metal — the added flexibility is beneficial when working with delicate ceramic materials. It is one of the most inexpensive metals, which is an essential consideration for companies looking to minimize manufacturing expenses.

Nickel: Nickel electroplating will increase a ceramic substrate’s corrosion resistance and strengthen the material — it provides extra protection against wear and tear. Nickel also produces a shiny appearance that closely resembles chrome, but without the toxicity that occurs when working with hexavalent chromium.

If your manufacturing processes involve working with ceramics, INNOVACERA can provide a customized metallized ceramic that will add value to your products. We’ve provided reliable, cost-effective metal finishing solutions to companies like yours for more than 10 years. Contact us to learn more today.

Customized Products – Pyrolytic Boron Nitride Evaporation Crucible

Pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN) belongs to the hexagonal crystal system and is an advanced ceramic material with a purity of 99.999%. It is formed by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of ammonia and boron halides under high temperature and high vacuum conditions. It can not only be made to PBN sheets, but also made to PBN final products such as crucibles, boats, and coatings.

Main feature
Unlike ordinary hot-pressed boron nitride (BN), it does not need to go through the traditional hot-pressing sintering process and does not add any sintering agent, so the obtained product has the following remarkable features:

Non-toxic and tasteless;
High purity, reaching more than 99.999%;
It does not react with acids, alkalis, salts, and organic reagents at room temperature, and is slightly corroded in molten salt and lye, but can resist the corrosion of various acids at high temperatures;
Not reactive with most molten metals, semiconductors, and their compounds;
Below 1000 ℃, the anti-oxidation performance is good;
Good thermal shock resistance, no cracks are seen in the water at 2000°C;
The use temperature is high, there is no sublimation point, and it is directly decomposed into B and N above 3000 °C;
High resistance and good electrical insulation performance;
The surface is smooth, without pores, and does not wet with most semiconductor melts

Applications

OLED evaporation boat
Semiconductor single crystal growth (VGF, LEC) Crucible
Molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Evaporation crucible
MOCVD heater
Polycrystalline synthetic boat
PBN infrared window
Satellite communication microwave tube
PBN coated carrier plate
High temperature, high vacuum equipment insulation plate

Metallized Ceramics for Electrical Components

Innovacera supplies custom refractory metallized alumina ceramics for use in power grid tubes, x-ray tubes, vacuum interrupters, and similar applications where ceramic-to-metal seal joints of exceptional strength and hermeticity are required.

Why Specify Ceramic Components?

Excellent metallized seal strength and hermeticity
Proven in extreme-duty applications
Consistent performance with all common braze alloys
High-volume production capacity and large part size capability

PROPERTY	UNITS	95% Al2O3	99% Al2O3
Dielectric Strength	ac-kv/mm	8.3	8.7
Dielectric Loss	25°C @ 1MHz	0.0004	0.0002
Volume Resistivity	25°C ohm-cm	>10¹⁴	>10¹⁴

We specialize in Molybdenum-Manganese thick-film metallization on 95% alumina ceramic. In addition, we metallize high purity aluminas, like 99% alumina, 99.6% alumina ceramic, and AlN.

Below is the thickness of the metallization.

INNOVACERA STANDARD METALLIZING SYSTEM
Molybdenum-Manganese Thick Film	10-35um
Nickel Plating	3-12um

If you have more interesting, pls contact us.

A brief introduction to HTCC

What is HTCC
HTCC (High Temperature co-fired Ceramic) adopts tungsten, molybdenum, molybdenum, manganese, and other High melting point metal heat resistance paste printed on 92 ~ 96% alumina flow Ceramic green billet according to the design requirements of heat circuit, 4 ~ 8% sintering agent and then laminated multilayer. In 1500 ~ 1600°C under high temperature burning into a whole.

Therefore, it has the advantages of corrosion resistance, high temperature resistance, long life, high efficiency and energy saving, uniform temperature, good thermal conductivity, fast thermal compensation, and does not contain lead, cadmium, mercury, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and other harmful substances, in line with the European Union RoHS environmental protection requirements.

Due to the high firing temperature, HTCC cannot use gold, silver, copper and other low melting point metal materials, must use tungsten, molybdenum, manganese, and other refractory metal materials, these materials have low conductivity and will cause signal delay and other defects, so it is not suitable for high-speed or high-frequency microassembly circuit substrate. However, HTCC substrate has the advantages of high structural strength, high thermal conductivity, good chemical stability, and high wiring density, so it has a wide application prospect in high-power microasse.

The classification of HTCC
In the high-temperature co-firing ceramics, alumina, mullite, and aluminum nitride are the most important components of ceramics.

1. Alumina
Alumina ceramic technology is a relatively mature microelectronics packaging technology, it is made of 92 ~ 96% aluminum oxide, adding 4 ~ 8% sintering additives at 1500-1700°C, its wire materials are tungsten, molybdenum, molybdenum – manganese and other refractory metals.

The substrate technology is mature, medium material cost is low, and thermal conductivity and bending strength are high. However, alumina multilayer ceramic substrate has the following disadvantages:

High dielectric constant affects the improvement of signal transmission speed;
High conductor resistivity and large signal transmission loss;
The coefficient of thermal expansion is quite different from that of silicon, which limits its application in supercomputers.

2. Mullite
Mullite has a dielectric constant of 7.3-7.5, while alumina (96%) has a dielectric constant of 9.4, which is higher than mullite, so the signal transmission delay time of mullite is about 17% smaller than alumina. Moreover, the thermal expansion coefficient of mullite is very close to silicon, so this substrate material has been developed rapidly.

Mullite multilayer ceramic substrates have been developed by many companies and their products have good performance indicators. However, the substrate wiring conductor can only use tungsten, nickel, molybdenum, etc., and high resistivity and thermal conductivity are lower than alumina substrate.

3. Aluminum nitride
For aluminum nitride substrate, due to its high thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, and Si, SiC, and GaAs semiconductor materials match, its dielectric constant and dielectric loss are better than alumina, and AlN is a hard ceramic, can still work well under harsh environmental conditions.

For example, AlN ceramics still have excellent stability at high temperatures. Therefore, aluminum nitride as a multilayer substrate material has been widely studied at home and abroad and has made remarkable progress.

The disadvantages of aluminum nitride substrate are:

Wiring conductor resistivity is high, signal transmission loss is large;
High sintering temperature and large energy consumption;
The dielectric constant is higher than that of low temperature co-fired ceramic dielectric materials;
The thermal conductivity of aluminum nitride substrate decreases after co-firing with tungsten and molybdenum conductors;
Screen printed resistors and other passive components can not be incorporated into the high temperature co-firing process because the metal oxides in the slurry of these passive components will react in the reducing atmosphere of the process and deteriorate the performance;
The outer conductor must be nickel-plated and gold-plated to protect it from oxidation, increase the conductivity of the surface and provide a metalized layer that can be used for wire welding and tin welding component mounting.

In spite of these shortcomings, alN substrate has more advantages than other high temperature co-fired ceramic substrates in general, and has a good development prospect in the field of high temperature co-fired ceramics.

The application of HTCC
HTCC ceramic heating piece is a new type of efficient environmental protection and energy-saving ceramic heating element, compared with PTC ceramic heating element, with the same heating effect under the condition of saving 20 ~ 30% energy, so, the product is widely used in daily life, industrial and agricultural technology, military, science, communications, medical, environmental protection, aerospace, and many other fields.

Such as a small air heater, hair dryer, dryer, clothes dryer, heating machine, dehumidifier, hand warmer, dryer, electric splint, electric iron, electric iron, curling hair perm, electronic thermos flask, heat preservation box, heat preservation cabinet, kerosene carburetor, electric cooker, toilet ceramic heater, water heater, Infrared therapy instrument, intravenous injection heater, small special crystal device constant temperature tank, industrial drying equipment, electric adhesive, water, oil and acid, and alkali liquid heating elements.

INNOVACERA can customize ceramic heating elements according to demand, welcome to call or email for a consultation.

Boron Nitride Nozzles for Atomizers

INNOVACERA has seven grades of Boron Nitride. BN99, BN+ZrO2, and BN+Zr+AL are often used for processing steels and nickel alloys. Usually, the material is machined as a nozzle used for powder metallurgy.

Grade	BN997	BN99	BN-SI	BN-AL	BN-SIC	BN-ZR	BN-ALN
Main Composition	BN>99.7%	BN>99%	BN+AL+SI	BN+ZR+AL	BN+SIC	BN+ZRO2	BN+ALN
Bonding Composition	B2O3	B2O3	Boron oxide silicon	Boron oxide aluminum	Boron oxide aluminum	B2O3	Boron oxide aluminum
Density (g/cm³)	1.6	2	2.2-2.3	2.25-2.35	2.4-2.5	2.8-2.9	2.8-2.9
Room Temperature Electric Resistivity (Ω·cm)	>10¹⁴	>10¹⁴	>10¹³	>10¹³	>10¹²	>10¹²	>10¹³
Max Using Temperature (°C) In Atmosphere In Inactive Gas In High Vacuum (Long Time)	900 2100 1800	900 2100 1800	900 1750 1750	900 1750 1750	900 1800 1800	900 1800 1800	900 1750 1750
Remark: The value is just for review, different using conditions will have a little difference.

BN+ZrO2, one of the composite boron nitrides, has come to be recognized as an exceptional nozzle material as it satisfies all these conditions.

It is an advanced ceramic material with a high melting point, is tough enough to prevent cracks, has high thermal shock resistance, and is easy to machine. In addition, molten metals won’t wet the surface of boron nitride, which means that it is not easily clogged during the atomization process.

Under a high vacuum, boron nitride can resist up to 1,750 °C. A gas atmosphere can push this even further to 1,900 °C. This means that boron nitride will remain solid through the melting of most metals. Boron nitride has a very low thermal expansion. Together with the high heat conductivity, this ensures that the material has very high shock resistance. It can easily withstand the rapid gradations in temperature inside the atomizer. It does not break or crack under thermal stresses.

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