Zirconium products price continues to rise

Recently Zirconium products price continues to rise, below will explain why it continues to rise and what’s next year’s trend?

From the industrial chain of zirconium, the upstream raw materials are mainly zircon sand, zirconium silicate in China accounts for about 38% of the amount of zircon sand, zirconium oxychloride 16%, zirconium fused 14%. In terms of end consumption, the ceramics industry accounts for 45%, making it the largest consumer of the zirconium industry, followed by chemical zirconium and refractories.

In 2019, the total import volume of zircon sand in China reached 1.182,000 tons, which was converted into about 704,000 tons of concentrate, accounting for 98.6% of imports. In terms of import countries, the top three major importers were Australia (309,000 tons, 43.79%), South Africa (185,000 tons, 26.20%), and Indonesia (43,000 tons, 6.17%).

Zircon sand supply continues to be tight due to the suspension of RBM, the world’s top three zircon sand. In addition, the development of 5G and dentistry continues to increase the demand for zirconium products, so the price of zirconium sand has skyrocketed. Data show that since 2021, the price of Zirconium sand in Hainan has risen to 16650 yuan/ton from 8700 yuan/ton at the beginning of the year, up more than 90%.

In addition, the price of zirconium products continues to rise. Yesterday evening, media reported that Tronox, the world’s third-largest producer of zirconium sand, will increase the price of zirconium sand by $175 / ton in the next quarter. At that time, the price of South Africa and will increase to $1770-1790 / ton, and the price of Australian sand will increase to $1785-1815 / ton.

At the same time, the supply of different varieties of zircon sand of Tronox will be reduced to varying degrees in the next quarter, mainly due to the epidemic. The operation of the mine and the transportation of ore will be affected to varying degrees. At the same time, the person in charge said that the situation of supply shortage will not be alleviated in the fourth quarter and will continue to next year.

INNOVACERA’S National Day Holidays

Chinese National Day is celebrated on October 1st every year to commemorate the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

October 1st, 1949 was the memorial day for the founding of the People’s Republic of China. One thing that should be noted is that the PRC was not founded on that day. Actually, the Chinese independence day was September 21st, 1949. The grand ceremony held at Tiananmen Square on October 1st, 1949 was to celebrate the forming of the Central People’s Government of the brand new country. Later on October 2nd, 1949, the new government passed the ‘Resolution on the National Day of the People’s Republic of China’ and declared October 1 to be the Chinese National Day. Ever since 1950, every October 1st has been grandly celebrated by Chinese people.

The 7-day holiday from Oct. 1st to 7th is called ‘Golden Week’, our office will be closed from Oct. 1st to 7th.

During the holidays, please feel free to send your e-mail inquiries to sales@innovacera.com, we will get back to you once coming back to work. We wish you a peaceful and happy holiday!

The INNOVACERA Team

Beryllium Oxide Ceramics

INNOVACERA widen its range of materials with Beryllium Oxide
Beryllium Oxide (BeO), which is commonly referred to as Beryllia, is endowed with a virtuously unique combination of thermal, electrical, optical, and mechanical properties which may be exploited for a diverse range of applications from thermal management systems for integrated electronics to high-temperature high-performance refractory components for nuclear reactors.

Applications of Beryllium Oxide Ceramics

• Medical
• Lasers
• Semiconductor handling equipment
• Energy
• Military and Aerospace
• Wireless Communications

Metallized Ceramic Joining types:

• BeO Ceramic + Mo/Mn Metallized + plating Ni
• BeO Ceramic + Mo/Mn Metallized + plating Ag
• BeO Ceramic + Mo/Mn Metallized + plating Au
• BeO Ceramic + printing Ag

Special types are available according to the customer’s drawings or samples.

Beryllium Oxide Metallization Ceramic Components for Thermal Management Solutions

Ceramic Ball Bearings are used on high-speed precision machinery

Ceramic ball bearings have been successfully applied in the industrial field.

More applications are silicon nitride ceramic ball bearings. It has the advantages of high limit rotation speed, good precision retention, small starting torque, high rigidity, good dry running performance, and long service life, which is very suitable for maintaining high precision and long-time operation under high speed, high temperature, corrosion and radiation conditions. Ceramic Ball Bearing is mainly used in CNC machine tools and high-speed precision machinery, such as high-speed electric spindle bearings, machine tool spindle bearings, dental drill bearings, instrumentation bearings, computer hard drive bearings.

In addition, the hardness of the silicon nitride ceramic is 1 times higher than that of the bearing steel, and the elastic modulus is about 1/3 higher. Under the same load, the elastic deformation of the silicon nitride ceramic is small, so it has good running accuracy.

Additionally, Hybrid ceramic bearings have been successfully applied to the spindle of high-speed machine tools, and have entered the practical stage, such as HPM ultra-precision lathes produced by companies, like Makino which has a spindle speed of 16000r/min.

HSM700 produced by MIKRO of the United States. The spindle speed of the high-speed machining center reaches 42000r/min, and the cutting speed has increased by 5-10 times. In addition, hybrid ceramic bearings are also used in high-speed equipment such as electric spindles and vortex molecular pumps.

How to process the porous ceramic disc and points for attention?

Innovacera have more than 7 years experience in producing porous ceramic part for vacuum chuck, filters, air bearings for semiconductor and pharmaceutical industry.

The range of Innovacera porous ceramic filters is made from aluminum oxide and silicon carbide. The strong, uniform porous ceramic has 40-50% open porosity with a tortuous pore structure and is available in pore sizes ranging from 1 to 100 microns. Monolithic, single grade, aluminum oxide porous ceramic is available in 6, 15, 30, 50, 60, and 100 microns pore sizes.

The porous ceramic disc processing is not the same as other ceramics, such as alumina ceramic, zirconia ceramics because of its properties of pores, so when you process the porous ceramics disc, here are 4 points you need to pay attention to:

1. Put the porous ceramic plate into the water for five minutes.
2. Ensure the porous plate be full of water to avoid oil contamination permeate into pores.
3. Cut the plate with the blade only, and then grind it with a grinding wheel or grinding head.
4. Do not use oil coolant for the machine, or it will be tough to clean.
5. Clean the plate with neutral detergent by ultrasonic.
6. Dry by airing or electric fan, and then baking under 100℃ for dead dry.

If you have any problems or inquiries about porous ceramics, welcome to contact us.

Main Applications of the Wear-Resistant Ceramics

Alumina ceramics have good wear resistance, corrosion resistance and mechanical properties, and excellent production capacity. The most important thing is that alumina ceramics have a relatively low price and higher cost performance, which makes them more effective in practical use. So it has become the most widely used wear-resistant ceramic material.

We will introduce some applications of wear-resistant ceramic.

1. Application in conveying and coal conveying system
The equipment of the coal conveying and material conveying system are easy to wear and even wear through. The use of alumina wear-resistant ceramics will greatly increase the service life and bring significant improvements in safety production and economic benefits.

2. Application in pulverizing system
Most of the abrasion of the pulverizing system of coal-fired power plants is mainly caused by the collision and impact of pulverized coal. The high-speed pulverized coal airflow particularly severely wears the outlet of the coal mill, the inlet and outlet of the coarse and fine powder separator, and the elbow of the primary air duct of the pulverizing equipment. The same phenomenon occurs in the air pipe elbow of the powder selection system of the cement plant. By using wear-resistant alumina ceramics, it will have a positive impact on actual production.

3. Application in ash system
In power plants that use hydraulic ash removal and slag discharge systems, the ash pump, ash ditch, nozzle, and other inlet and outlet pipe sections are severely worn. After using wear-resistant alumina ceramics, they can be used for a long time and have good wear resistance, which solves the task of mechanical repair. Problems such as the heavy and poor environment.

4. As a grinding medium
Due to the characteristics of high hardness, moderate density, wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and low price, alumina grinding balls are widely used in the raw materials of cement, minerals, ceramics, electronic materials, magnetic materials, and coatings, paints, and other industries. Grinding and processing is a high-quality grinding medium. In the building ceramic industry, the wear efficiency of alumina grinding balls is 20%-40% higher than that of natural flint and pebbles. With the reduction of high-quality natural ball resources and the high wear rate of ordinary ceramic balls, alumina grinding balls will be used by more and more manufacturers.

5. Oil and gas extraction
Alumina wear-resistant ceramics can be adapted to work in harsh environments, especially those ceramics with an alumina content of 97% (mass) or more, which can be used in oil and natural gas drilling equipment. Typical applications are nozzles, valve seats, adjusting devices, pump accessories, and even drill bit accessories that can vibrate in high-pressure environments, in oil and mud and mortar, and sometimes work in the presence of acids and salts. It is resistant to wear and the requirements for corrosion resistance are more stringent.

If you have more interests, pls feel free to contact us.

Porous Ceramic Vacuum Chuck

Innovacera supply the Porous Ceramic Chuck Table which is mainly used to support and chuck the semiconductor wafer when grinding and dicing. It is applied in the process of thinning, dicing, clearance, transportation, and so on.

Chuck Table Classification by applications:
Thinning Chucks
Dicing Chucks
Cleaning Chucks
Film Uncovered Chucks
Transportation Chucks(Backlit Chucks)
Grinding Chucks
Thermal Wafer Chucks
Wire Bonding Chuck Tables
Electro Magnetic Dicing Chucks
Freezing Plate Chucks

Main Application field:
–New, and refurbished, porous ceramic chucks for Disco, ADT, K&S, Applied materials. TSK, OKAMOTO, Micro Automation, Load Point, etc dicing saws and grinders.
–4″, 5″, 6″, 8″, 12″ regular size available in round, square, oval shape or irregular. shapes and sizes.
–Custom size is available for us

Characteristics include:
1. High flatness and parallelism
2. Compact and uniform microstructure with high strength
3. Good permeability and uniform adsorption affinity
4. Long lifetime
5. Dressing easily.

What’s new about the laminated planar oxygen sensor?

The advocated global environmental preservation has brought the increasing stringent on emission regulations. How to reduce hydrocarbon (HC) emission at engine cold start is essential for an automotive, therefore, it’s necessary to control engine exhaust air to fuel (A/F) ratio and warm up the catalyst as quickly as possible. Oxygen sensors are widely used to control the A/F ratio at around the stoichiometric point, where three-way catalysts are most effective.

The traditional oxygen sensor is made of alumina and inserts into a zirconia ceramic tube and commonly takes some 20 seconds to activate.

New laminated planar oxygen sensor combined alumina and zirconia together, heater element was embedded in the zirconia substrate of the sensor element adopting alumina for the heater substrate material, solve the problem of low thermal conductivity of zirconia while guarantee the good heating:

– High thermal conductivity and superior dielectric characteristic, by the direct joining of the alumina ceramic heater substrate and the sensor element zirconia electrolyte.
– Low heat stress at temperature rise, due to optimized heater design.
– Superior sensor protection from water droplets, and improved sensor response, due to optimized arrangement of intake holes in the sensor cover.

With these characteristics, the oxygen sensor can be activated in 10 seconds after a cold start.

Boron Nitride Ceramic Guide For Molten Metals

Boron Nitride is a good self-lubricated ceramic that can withstand high temperatures (2200°C in an inert atmosphere) and maintain its lubricating capability in a high vacuum environment. Boron nitride guide has very low wettability with metal. Compared with graphite, it’s an excellent choice for high-temperature metal spray.

Also, boron nitride ceramic is a kind of refractory ceramic with low expansion and high thermal conductivity. This makes it to be an ideal choice for molten metals.

It’s very easy to be machined to custom design with precision and tight tolerance because of its machinability.

Boron Nitride Nozzle for Gas Atomization

Boron Nitride nozzle for gas atomization

Boron nitride ceramic is a kind of refractory ceramic with low expansion and high thermal conductivity. This makes it to be an ideal choice for molten metals. Boron Nitride is a good self-lubricate ceramic that can withstand high temperatures and maintain its lubricating capability in a high vacuum environment. Boron nitride nozzle has very low wettability with metal. So Boron nitride nozzle is very often used for gas atomization of molten metal powder metallurgy. Various dimensions and custom designs are all available for us.