CERAMIC PRECURSOR POLYMERS
Preceramic polymers such as KiON's Ceraset® polysilazanes are materials which can be processed or shaped using conventional polymer forming techniques such as polymer infiltration pyrolysis (PIP), injection molding, coating from solvent, extrusion, or resin transfer molding (RTM). Once formed, objects made from these preceramic polymers can then be converted to ceramic components by heating to temperatures high enough to consolidate the elements contained in the polymer structure to a ceramic. Typically, such pyrolytic conversions occur in greater than about 80 wt% yield, meaning that less than 20 wt% of the mass of the original polymer is lost in the conversion to ceramic. Ideally, full shape retention is achieved during pyrolysis. Using techniques such as those listed above, a wide variety of composites, coatings, fibers, monoliths, and nano-phase material systems can be generated.
KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes contain silicon, carbon, and nitrogen, so that conversion to either silicon nitride or silicon carbide-containing ceramics is possible. This can be accomplished by performing the pyrolysis step in either an ammonia containing atmosphere or an inert atmosphere, respectively. Hence, the use of KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes as ceramic powder binders or as ceramic coating precursors is a natural. KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes have been used as binders for a wide variety of ceramic powders, including silicon nitride, silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, aluminum nitride, and others.
AEROSPACE
Since both silicon nitride and silicon carbide are high performance ceramic materials, KiON's Ceraset polymers are particularly attractive candidates for a variety of structural aerospace applications, including composite radomes, components made from carbon fiber-reinforced ceramics, particulate-reinforced SiC/SiC composites, exhaust nozzles, and coatings used to enhance the oxidative stability of a variety of refractory composite materials such as carbon-carbon. Due to the ease with which the handling characteristics of KiON's Ceraset polymers can be modified, the melt or solvent spinning of continuous silicon nitride or silicon carbide fiber is also possible.
AUTOMOTIVE
The automotive market also benefits from KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes. Driven by a desire to run engines hotter and hotter, ceramic materials are slowly finding their way into under-the-hood applications. Early work involving KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes demonstrated that high performance silicon nitride engine rotors targeted for hybrid gas / electric vehicles could be manufactured by injection molding techniques. High performance ceramic coatings for mild steel exhaust manifolds made from ceramic particulate-reinforced Ceraset polymers passed aggressive 1,000 hour dynamometer test protocols.
ELECTRONICS
KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes are also suitable materials for use in electronics, where electrically insulating or passivating ceramic coatings are required, and in the computer industry, where ceramic coatings are used in multi-layer chip manufacture. In such applications, air pyrolysis results in silica-based ceramics which provide the desired electrical properties. Additionally, a variety of MEMS-related applications are currently being developed.
KiON's family of Ceraset inorganic polymer products are based on patented polysilazane chemistry and manufacturing process techniques. Since KiON's Ceraset polysilazanes are made by a simple, single step ammonolyses of commercially available raw materials, they can be manufactured in bulk quantities. Drum quantities (400 pounds) of KiON Ceraset Ceraset polysilazanes are readily available for purchase. KiON Specialty Polymers currently sells a variety of Ceraset polysilazanes, each having specific processing characteristics tailored to the applications described above. Our technical staff is available for advice and to recommend a particular polysilazane product for any application.