Month: October 2018

Can Zirconia Ceramics be used as Wearables?

Zirconia ceramics enter the consumer electronics represented by mobile phones in three subdivisions.

  • The main application area is the back cover of the mobile phone, which is mainly used to upgrade and supplement plastic, glass and metal materials.
  • The second is the patch or the case of the wearable device used for fingerprint identification, which mainly benefits from the increase in the installed rate of the fingerprint reader and the replacement of sapphire.
  • Finally, it is used for small structural parts such as lock screen and volume button, which is a continuation of the ceramic button business in the era of the functional machine.
ZrO2 Back Cover of the Mobile Phone
ZrO2 Back Cover of the Mobile Phone

In contrast, zirconia has a density of 6 grams per cubic meter, the heaviest of all materials. Fortunately, zirconia ceramics can be controlled by thickness, keeping the total weight to a level lighter than glass. Besides, the back set of fine CNC processing required time and high cost because of the superior wear-resisting performance of ceramics. As a result, zirconia has exploded more quickly in areas such as fingerprint recognition, wearable devices and the back cover of mobile phones, where it is more cost-effective.

Apple Watch

As early as April 2015, the Apple Watch went on the market and used zirconia ceramic material as the rear cover appearance for the first time, which brings the wearables’ ceramic facade to a climax. Compared with metals and plastics, zirconia ceramics are wear-resistant and skin-friendly, making them more suitable for use on wearable devices. In addition, the airtightness and waterproof of wearable devices determine that most of them adopt wireless charging mode, and the ceramic material is used as the rear cover with small signal shielding, which is obviously superior to the metal material.

Due to the aesthetic and waterproof considerations, most wearable devices have the function of wireless charging, and the wireless charging scheme of the non-metal back shell is easier to design. From the perspective of shielding efficiency, zirconia ceramics, as a non-metal material, have no shielding effect on electromagnetic signals, and will not affect the internal antenna layout at all. Therefore, it can be conveniently shaped into a whole, instead of making an ugly segmented structure like aluminum magnesium alloy. Arguably, Apple’s Apple Watch led the trend of zirconia ceramics being the back cover of wearables.

Apple Watch

Wearable devices

In addition, zirconia ceramics also have the following advantages as wearable devices. As mentioned above, zirconia ceramics have higher dielectric constants that make fingerprint scanners work more sensitively and cost significantly less than sapphires. The Mohs hardness of zirconia ceramics is around 8.5, which is very close to that of sapphire 9. Given all the advantages of zirconia ceramics, it is expected that it will become the preferred rear cover material in the field of wearable devices in the future.

Stanford Advanced Materials supplies high-quality zirconia ceramics and related machining products to meet our customers’ R&D and production needs. Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.

How did people come up with Zirconia Ceramics for Tableware?

Most people think they are very strange to zirconia ceramics and have little contact with them, but in fact, we only need a few examples to make it clear. The simplest examples are the utensils we use in our daily lives, such as zirconia ceramic chopsticks, zirconia ceramic soup spoons, zirconia ceramic teacups, and so on, all of which are made from zirconia ceramics.

But how did people come up with this material for tableware? This is because traditional ceramics have problems such as poor resistance to fall and durability, and the appearance and application of zirconia ceramics completely solve these problems. This special material is not only resistant to acid, alkali, and rust, but also has good environmental protection. It is the ideal choice of tableware materials.

Zirconia ceramic chopsticks

Zirconia ceramics are by far the most resilient of ceramic materials, so you don’t have to worry about breaking them when you make your cutlery. Besides, it has an excellent high-temperature solid electrolyte, oxygen ions can also pass through at a high temperature, which is a very special ceramic material. The following is a special case of zirconia ceramic knife to explain in detail the application of zirconia ceramics in kitchen utensils.

Zirconia ceramic knife is made from zirconia ceramic material which belongs to nonmetal material. Since the material purity and particle size were controlled, and various carbides, nitride, boride, and oxides were added to improve their properties, not only did the bending strength of the zirconia ceramic knife increase to 0.9~1.0GPa, but also the fracture toughness and impact resistance were greatly improved. In recent years, the application range of zirconia ceramic knives has been expanding, from high-tech fields such as aerospace to the industrial ceramic knife.

Characteristics of zirconia ceramic knife

Clean

The ceramic knife is designed in a close manner with no gaps and pores, no sticky bacteria and foreign body, and will not become a breeding ground for bacteria. The super antibacterial function of the ceramic knife is very suitable for cutting food which can be eaten directly.

Zirconia ceramic knife

Resistance to food oxidation

The ceramic knife will not react with any food, maintaining the original taste of the food, allowing you to fully experience the enjoyment of the delicious food. By the way, ceramic knives are very suitable for cutting raw fish, fruits, vegetables, boneless meat, and cooked food.

Healthy and Eco-friendly

The ceramic knife, which does not emit metal ions, has excellent non-metal properties, making it never rust. Besides, the healthy and environmentally friendly ceramic knives are resistant to various acid-base organics, and will not be corroded by acids and oils in fruits and vegetables. It is non-toxic, pollution-free, non-oxidizing and non-rusting.

Please visit http://www.samaterials.com for more information.