I am working on a personal project and i want to try to use advanced ceramics. Through the research i have done up to now, only microscopic components are found to be made of advanced ceramics.
The part i am imagining/wish to apply on my object would be a shell of 70cmX40cm and as thin as possible (maybe some milimiters?).
Ideally, the finishing would resemble the one of porcelain. In fact i want the finishing to be identical to that of porcelain but i am thinking of the advanced ceramics once they r much more durable also weight less…
Does any of you has any idea if something like this is feaseble? Do u happen to know any company that could manufacture something like this?
what do you mean by ‘advanced ceramics’? And why not jsut slip cast it in a earthen ware/porcelain. Do you want it like porcelain as its slighly translucent? Also why do you want to use ceramics they are very brittle when you get down to that thickness.
They make KERAFLEX a ceramic tape, very thin…also very brittle! In its green state it feels like leather and is very flexable, you can cut it using a scapel, or punch it…perhaps even laser cut…not sure. I was inteading to deep draw it for my ceramics futures project…would require alot of R&D and tooling though. They are very helpful and can send you out some free samples.
I would also suggest you speak to a ceramics expert as they might suggest adifferent why to achive what you want.
First of all: you want the thing to have a finish identical to porcelain. Visually, you can get things that are very close with a well-toleranced, smooth mold and various kinds of plastics. Color, translucence, reflectivity are all possible (some kind of polycarbonate is probably a good bet). If you want the look of glazed ceramic, it could be a little trickier, since then you’re actually dealing with a layer of flat color underneath a layer of glass. That kind of finish is possible the same way they make fibre-reinforced plastics – an underlayer of something (aramid, nylon, CF) and an outer layer of clear epoxy, cast around the fibre in a mold. You could probably do something similar with overmolding.
The tactile effects of porcelain are harder to replicate. Plastic is a good insulator; if you want it to feel cold to the touch, like ceramics or glass, you’re going to have problems.
Again – what do you mean by advanced ceramics? There are high-temperature ceramics used in jet engines, high-wear-resistance zirconium ceramics for bearings and things, special ones used in brake discs, superconductive ceramics…I think
it’s possible to reinforce ceramics with an internal fibre mat or something, but millimeters is a pretty thin wall thickness. Why do you think coffee mugs are so chunky, or thin porcelain is so expensive?
It would be good to know what you’re working on, if possible. It might allow us to suggest different materials that would be a better match.
Thank you very much for your reply! Unfortunatelly these days i am handing in a project so i have left aside my “ceramic” project. Hope from next week i will be able to work on this again!
I will pm you the forthcoming days more info about what i intend to work on and study the info you have given me.
thanks a lot for your time and sharing your info,
alex
ps. when i say “advanced ceramics” i mean ceramics used also for the fashion industry (for example, RADO and CHANEL have used a type of “advanced” or “high tech” ceramics for the bracelet or barel of their watches…). Also my project is related to fashion accesories industry and it has to be lightweight and durable in terms of cracking or braking… i am open thought to more traditional ceramic materials if they fullfill the specs i mentioned before (also, yes, i do want not only to look but also to feel like ceramic/porcelain and i would not like to use “look like ceramic” materials…)