SIALON™ VERSUS SYALON, SILICON NITRIDE AND SI3N4
Sialon II is the second generation of technical ceramics for foundries and other applications.
Compared to syalon, si3n4 or Silicon Nitride, this new isostatically pressed ceramic shows a major improvement with regards to impact fracture toughness (> 10Mpa) and thermal conductivity (17-85 W/mK).
Sialon is considered to have superior properties over silicon nitride and syalon.
Our Sialon heater tubes, thermocouple protection tubes, riser tubes, Westofen dosing tubes, impellers, ladles, hooks, extrusion dies, cutting tools and welding pins have excellent non-wetting properties and a smooth surface.
With regards to Sialons, there is substitution of silicon by aluminum with corresponding atomic replacement of nitrogen by oxygen, to satisfy valency requirements.
The resulting 'solution' has superior properties to the original pure solvent, syalon, silicon nitride or Si3N4.
Silicon Nitride like ceramics have found extensive use in non-ferrous molten metal handling, particularly aluminum and its alloys, including metal feed tubes for aluminum die casting, burner and immersion heater tubes, injector and degassing for nonferrous metals, thermocouple protection tubes, crucibles and ladles.
In metal forming, it is used as a cutting tool for machining chill cast iron and as brazing and welding fixtures and pins, particularly for resistance welding.
Other applications include in the chemical and process industries and the oil and gas industries, due to the excellent chemical stability and corrosion resistance and wear resistance properties.
Sialon is produced by first combining a mixture of raw materials including silicon nitride, alumina, aluminum nitride, silica and the oxide of a rare earth element such as yttrium.
