What we do

The starting material for our technical ceramics is usually spray granules, a particularly free-flowing granulate. During production, our suppliers grind the raw materials, such as soapstone, with water and other additives to form a liquid slurry, which is then granulated in a so-called spraying tower via nozzles to form a spray mist, which is then quickly heated. The result is a spray grain consisting of hollow spheres. The grain size can be varied according to requirements.  We obtain these particularly high-quality processed raw materials and materials from selected suppliers.

In our material preparation department, these compounds are brought to a bulk or cup weight and the necessary moisture is set. This process is recorded in batches for traceability in the process.

We use two different molding processes in our production. 

Dry pressing
In our in-house tooling department, we produce tools consisting of upper and lower parts. With so-called uniaxial presses, the forming process consists of the steps of filling, pressing and ejection. Each forming operation takes only a few seconds. Several parts can be produced simultaneously per stroke, depending on the geometry and the possible number of cavities in the tool.
We have a total of 24 mechanical axial powder presses with nominal forces ranging from 40kN to 300kN.

Extrusion or rod pressing
In this process, the mass is compacted by screw or piston and pressed into shape by a die. This typically results in strands of about 1 m in length: simple solid rods, tubes, multi-hole tubes, and all sorts of other geometries. The material used is very wet, so these strands have to be dried very carefully to avoid any crack formation.

Our machinery includes 3 piston presses, 3 vacuum extrusion presses with screw conveyors in a cascade arrangement and one vacuum extrusion press with a rectangular screw arrangement.

Both the pressed green bodies (as the molded parts are called before sintering) and the extruded strands can be processed in the next step. As this material has approximately the hardness of blackboard chalk in this state, it can be processed with simple grinding tools. Drawn lengths are cut to size or threads are cut in pressed parts, recesses milled or holes drilled.

To turn these green bodies into actual ceramics, they must be sintered at temperatures above 1000°C. At these temperatures, the individual mineral components essentially fuse together to form the ceramic, with the components shrinking by around 10% depending on the material. We work with smaller electrically heated chamber furnaces and two large-volume rack furnaces. The exhaust air from the kilns is carefully cleaned, first via post-combustion and then via a fluorine cascade absorber. The waste heat is recovered via air-water heat exchangers for further use in operation.

After sintering, further steps can be taken to refine the ceramic depending on the technical requirements.

In-house, the parts are deburred and polished by trovalizing, with or without special ceramic chips, but glazing or colouring of the ceramic is also possible.

If required, we can have the parts precision ground, honed or lapped externally. We have been working with selected partners in this field for many years.

Our quality assurance accompanies the entire production process. At the end, a final check is carried out before packaging. If desired, we create a limit sample catalog with our customers to clearly identify any defects. This is particularly important where our ceramic parts are visibly installed. Sometimes parts also have to be gauged to ensure that further processing by our customers runs smoothly. All items are carefully packaged by us so that they reach our customers all over the world without damage.