A Solution for Severe Environments

The aerospace industry is continually changing, causing materials and applications to change as well. Velocity requirements have increased from Mach 3 to Mach 5 and higher ^32,33,34. The aerospace materials used need to match this requirement.

STX-100 Silicon Nitride is incredibly light for the strength it provides. This makes it an enabling ceramic in aerospace and other applications where both weight and strength are critically important. It is also creep-resistant (as compared to metals), which improves the stability of structures at high temperatures. This material has a great combination of additional properties including hardness, electromagnetic properties, and thermal resistance required for extreme applications such as radome, missile fin, and engine components ³⁵.

Owing to its excellent thermal shock resistance compared to other ceramics in the automotive industry ³⁶, STX-100 Silicon Nitride is a very useful material for the fabrication of high-performance all-ceramic or hybrid steel-ceramic rolling contact bearings³⁷. The material’s extreme strength, toughness, and resistance to chemical and thermal factors offer significant benefits by extending contact fatigue life.

As a low-density material, silicon nitride can greatly reduce the dynamic loading during ball contacts in very high-speed applications such as those in gas turbine engines. The material also has notable applications in severe lubrication and wear conditions including extreme temperature, large temperature differential, and ultra-high vacuum, as well as in safety-critical applications.

In energy conversion, ceramics are found in solar cells and solar collectors that transform solar energy into electricity. In fuel cells and batteries that change chemical to electrical energy, ceramics can withstand the corrosive nature and high temperatures required to operate². In thermoelectric generators that convert heat to power and in gas turbines that produce mechanical energy from chemical energy, the strength, and toughness that silicon nitride ceramics provide allow these systems to operate at peak efficiency.

With its superior thermal shock resistance, thermal conductivity, strength, toughness, and chemical inertness, STX-100 Powder is the ideal material as an additive grain for braking systems in high-performance automobile and aerospace vehicles⁴¹. The addition of silicon nitride provides a quieter braking system under a wide range of temperatures and road conditions⁴¹.

STX-100 Silicon Nitride is an ideal material for these applications due to its excellent thermal shock resistance, strength, toughness, and chemical inertness.