Innovation and Application of Silicon Nitride Ceramic Balls
With social progress and the rapid development of science and technology, the use environment and conditions of bearings are becoming more and more diverse, and the requirements for the structure, material and performance of bearings are also getting higher and higher. Applied materials science continues to break through and innovate, silicon nitride Ceramic ball bearings came into being.
Silicon nitride ceramic is a new type of advanced ceramic material prepared by artificially synthesized high-purity silicon nitride powder through high temperature and high pressure. Its weight is one third of that of steel, and its hardness is second only to diamond.
Compared with other materials, it has many excellent properties such as low density, high strength, high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, long life, self-lubrication, high hardness and high toughness, non-magnetic insulation, etc. It is "all-round ceramic", "black ceramic steel" and "the jewel in the crown of advanced ceramic materials".
Aviation, aerospace, navigation, nuclear industry, petrochemical industry, medical equipment, light textile industry, metallurgy, electric power, food, transportation, high-speed machine tools and other fields require high temperature, high speed, cryogenic, flammable, explosive, strong corrosion, vacuum , electrical insulation, non-magnetic, dry friction and other special working conditions, silicon nitride ceramics can not only withstand the harsh working environment that metal materials and polymer materials are incapable of, but also have all the important characteristics required by bearing materials. .
Therefore, although silicon nitride ceramics are not the hardest and toughest among ceramics, their comprehensive mechanical and physical properties are considered to be the best. Today, the application of such advanced ceramic materials in bearing manufacturing has become a hot spot in the development and application of high-tech in the world and a symbol of the material technology revolution in the machinery industry.
Silicon Nitride Development History
Early 1960s
The United States and other European and American countries have begun to study the application of ceramic materials in rolling bearings.
1980s
Japan has started research on such projects.
1978
China Advanced Ceramic Technology Research Institute established a silicon nitride project team.
1980
China's pressureless sintered silicon nitride production process was successfully developed.
1996
ZCDH built China's first pilot production line for silicon nitride ceramic bearing balls with an annual output of 800,000.
2008
ZCDH built a silicon nitride ceramic bearing ball production line with an annual output of 12 tons.
2011
ZCDH established the Nitride Ceramic Material Technology Corporation.
2014
China National Advanced Industrial Ceramic Engineering Technology Center silicon nitride ceramic bearing ball production demonstration line was completed and put into operation.
2015
Construction of a high-performance silicon nitride ceramic production line with an annual output of 200 tons was started.
For a long time, the market of high-end silicon nitride ceramic bearing balls used in high-speed machine tool spindle bearings, robot bearings, new energy vehicle bearings, aerospace engine bearings and wind turbine insulating bearings has been occupied by foreign countries.
Relying on the technical accumulation of China Advanced Ceramic Materials Research Institute, ZCDH successfully broke through the technical blockade of foreign countries in 2015 and realized the connection of the pilot production line of high-performance silicon nitride ceramic materials, and in the same year, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) silicon nitride Bearing balls are introduced to the market, and their performance has reached the level of international standard grade I materials.
Since the construction of the 200-ton high-performance silicon nitride ceramic production line started in 2015, Nitride has mass-produced ceramic balls with specifications ranging from φ0.8mm to φ101.6mm, and precision grades G3, G5, G10, and G20.
Applications
In recent years, with the completion of the high-performance silicon nitride ceramic production line with an annual output of 500 tons, ZCDH silicon nitride ceramic materials have developed rapidly and have become the largest silicon nitride ceramic R&D and manufacturing enterprise in China.
The developed G3 silicon nitride ceramic bearing balls have been used in aero-engines and other fields to achieve domestic substitution. At the same time, it entered the new energy vehicle industry chain and cooperated with global bearing technology and manufacturing leading enterprises to successfully develop silicon nitride ceramic bearings for new energy vehicles and achieve mass supply. The co-developed high thermal conductivity silicon nitride ceramic substrate products for new energy vehicle power devices all show huge market demand in the future.