Automotive ceramics
Ceramics are highly resilient materials forged through extreme temperature heating of inorganic, non-metallic minerals, rocks, or clay. While used to make pottery and other objects, ceramic is also vital to automotive engineering. Automotive ceramics help achieve resilience, longevity, and reliable functionality in automobile engines and other vehicle parts.
There are various types of automotive ceramics.
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Zirconia
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Alumina
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Magnesium silicate
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Cordierite
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Silicon nitride
These ceramics are preferred mainly because they repeatedly withstand various conditions, such as high internal combustion and friction temperatures, electric currents, chemical corrosion, and structural tension from incessant bending and warping.
They are used to make various components such as sensors, catalytic converters, braking systems, and cylinder blocks, among many other elements. They have high heat resistance and are much lighter than ordinary metals. This article examines some of these ceramic components and their uses and advantages over conventional materials.
Advantages of Automotive Ceramics
Advantages of Automotive Ceramics
High heat resistance
This is the most crucial advantage of ceramic automotive parts over traditional metal auto parts. Since most of the operations within a vehicle generate intense heat, these parts need to be made from material that can repeatedly withstand extreme temperatures without succumbing to thermal shock. Most of the automotive ceramics mentioned above have reliable thermal stability, making them the ideal material for manufacturing automobile components.
Durable and reliable
Ceramics are highly resistant to wear or corrosion and primarily immune to chemical damage. Automotive parts made of ceramic last a long time, boosting reliability and lowering maintenance costs. Replacements are needed less often compared to some conventional metal components.
Automotive ceramics are lighter
Automotive ceramics are lighter than metallic materials like iron and steel. They are, therefore, a revolutionary solution for most automakers seeking to optimize weight reduction in their productions. Lighter vehicles achieve better fuel economy, handle better, and emit fewer toxic gases into the environment. This makes ceramics the go-to option for most modern car manufacturers.
Eco-friendly
Ceramics form crucial components for environmental sustainability devices within a vehicle. Since these devices are located within the high-heat exhaust system to trap and mitigate harmful gases and particles, ceramics are essential for their heat-resistant capabilities. Thus, ceramics play a massive role in achieving environmental sustainability in automotive engineering.
Uses of Automotive Ceramics in the Engineering and Manufacturing of Vehicles
Uses of Automotive Ceramics in the Engineering and Manufacturing
Used in ceramic brake discs and pads
Ceramic brake discs are a practical solution for driving in performance and intensely stressful driving conditions. When vehicles brake at high speeds, a lot of heat is generated. The intense pressure applied and high temperatures generated can cause conventional iron brake discs to melt and deform.
Constant heating and cooling can cause them to wear out and develop cracks over time. Automotive ceramics, on the other hand, solve this by offering brake rotors with high resistance to heat, friction, and pressure. The lighter weight of ceramic brake discs is also an added advantage for performance driving, as they improve handling and maneuverability and contribute towards better fuel economy.
Maintenance of conventional rear brake drum systems can also be a headache. This is mainly due to the dust that usually builds up from the brake lining. If the dust is not regularly cleaned out, it can reduce the efficiency of the braking system, cause scratches within the brake drum lining, and result in an annoying high-pitched screeching noise when brakes are applied. Ceramic brake discs and ceramic drum linings solve this problem since they offer higher heat and friction resistance, hence less dust menace.
Sensors
Modern automobiles have multiple sensors that digitally transmit computerized readings to the instrument cluster. Most of these sensors are made with ceramic coating since they are located in parts of the vehicle where extreme temperatures and high pressure are constant. These include oxygen sensors, oil pressure sensors, and fuel gauge transmitters, among many others. Ceramic is also preferred for these sensors since it is biocompatible with various motor oil and fuel grades.
Oxygen sensors within the exhaust systems are usually made of a ceramic material like zirconium dioxide, with platinum for breaking down Oxygen. While zirconium efficiently conducts oxygen ions, it can also withstand the high temperatures within the combustion system, effectively monitoring the air-to-fuel ratio and transmitting accurate readings for fuel injection.
Ceramics also manufactures durable housings and lenses for Light detection and ranging sensors. These sensors are a revolutionary technological invention that has helped achieve complete automation in motor vehicles, producing self-driving cars. Ceramics ensure the durability and reliability of these lidar sensors. Temperature sensors consist of ceramic variable resistors with high heat resistance that transmit accurate oil temperature readings to the instrument cluster for monitoring.
Pressure sensors are made from ceramic to endure constant warping and resist corrosion.
Eco-friendly exhaust systems
With the world fighting to suppress harmful emissions, modern diesel engines are now equipped with various technological devices to reduce the emission of harmful carbon gases into the atmosphere. One such invention is the catalytic converter, which helps break down and oxidize harmful gases like Nitrous Oxide, Carbon Monoxide, and hydrocarbons through chemical reactions into less harmful gases for emission.
The catalytic converter core is made primarily out of cordierite, a ceramic material synthesized from magnesium, aluminum, and silicon, with the ability to withstand the high temperatures of exhaust gases. The ceramic core is fashioned into a honeycomb structure coated with rare earth metals like rhodium, platinum, and palladium. These facilitate reduction and oxidation reactions to break down harmful exhaust gases. This ceramic substrate provides a heat-resistant surface area for this reaction.
Diesel particulate filters also contain a ceramic honeycomb-shaped monolith with tiny grooves that help arrest soot and other solid toxic particles from the exhaust gases. This ensures a cleaner environment and prevents the emission of black smoke normally associated with diesel engines. The arresting grid in the DPF is made of ceramic material that is resistant to the high temperatures of exhaust fumes passing through it. The ceramic ensures the lasting operation of the DPF.
Engine heat and combustion chambers
Automotive ceramics like silicon carbide are used to line the inner walls of an engine’s combustion chamber. This is due to the material’s ability to withstand high combustion temperatures, reaching more than 1000 degrees Celsius without being vulnerable to thermal shock. The high pressure applied during compression is also easily withstood by this material, achieving reliability and longevity within the engine.
Turbocharger rotors
Turbochargers compress air from the exhaust into the engine intake to boost the engine’s torque and performance. Due to the constant high-speed spinning and hot exhaust gases going through the intake, the rotors have to be made from highly durable material. A ceramic material like silicon nitride is ideal for manufacturing this component, as it is strong and low-density.
Spark plugs
Alumina is the ceramic material used in the manufacture of spark plugs. This component of a vehicle’s engine creates a high-voltage electric spark that ignites the mixture of air and fuel within the combustion chamber to set off the combustion process.
The constant high-voltage sparking generates high temperatures that can quickly degrade ordinary metals and other materials. Therefore, the high heat resistance properties of the ceramic are a crucial requirement in the manufacture of this component to ensure the reliable function and durability of the element.
Mechanical seals and bearings
Mechanical seals and bearings in various parts of a vehicle’s engine and drive train must be strong enough to withstand extreme pressure, tension, heat, and constant movement without quickly wearing off and giving way. Ceramics provide a reliable material for the manufacture of these crucial mechanical components.
Dials, housing, and lenses
The durability and longevity of ceramics make them a good choice for manufacturing interior aesthetic components such as dials and infotainment screens. Since these are constantly fiddled with, they must be immune to wear. Whereas traditional plastic and chrome dials quickly wear off and fade, ceramic tends to hold up better.
Automotive ceramics is also essential for manufacturing lasting housing for the computer box, interior lights, and other sensors. Headlamps, dashcams, and parking cameras also have lenses made from ceramic fiberglass, which are more durable and scratch-resistant than ordinary glass.
Electrical insulation
Electric vehicles make heavy use of ceramics for insulation of batteries, power systems, charging systems, and other electric components. Ceramic is the choice material for manufacturing insulation panels in these vehicles due to its electrical resistivity and thermal stability. Electric vehicles also make use of ceramics for the manufacture of heat sinks and cooling systems.
Conclusion; Automotive Ceramics
Automotive ceramics are the perfect solution for sustainable automotive engineering. Automakers can now achieve weight reduction, environmental sustainability, durability, and reliability through them.
Their resistance to heat, wear, and tensile fatigue is a revolutionary achievement that the automotive industry has since exploited and continues to exploit to make life easier for vehicle owners and manufacturers. Automotive ceramics are the future of automotive engineering.