The search for high-performance materials – and that do not have a negative impact on the environment and health – is going on all over the world. Properties such as durability, strength, low in weight, an ability to withstand high temperatures, chemical stability and thermal conductivity are some examples of sought after features.
Environmental benefits may consist of the material or component lasts longer, providing longer life to the product. Environmental benefits can also be for high-performance bearings to reduce friction between two moving parts of equipment, which for example can result in lower energy consumption, longer life and lower noise. Water lubrication of bearings used in marine applications is another example of an environmental benefit.
“We are active in the market for advanced materials,” says Fredrik Svedberg, CEO of Diamorph. “These materials have been developed for extreme applications and are found in products with specially designed structural and functional properties. Our customers demand high quality and the products are often multi-functional, which means that materials with multiple properties have been developed and added,” says Svedberg
Diamorphs products include bushings for rockets, effective fire protection, long-life components and critical valves for vacuum pumps.
“Customers are demanding solutions that we as a supplier must have both technological breadth and depth in order to solve their problems. These solutions often focus on reducing overall life cycle costs and/or increased performance. Specifically, these include a product base of over 100 products like bushings for rockets, effective fire protection, storage and wear long-life components, ceramic resistance materials as well as critical valves to vacuum pumps,” says Svedberg.
Less friction and wear
Bearings are used in all mobile applications to reduce friction and wear and increase efficiency. Conventional ball bearings are usually made of bronze and steel. But composite or ceramic materials are lighter, have a longer life and require less or no lubrication. They also act as an electrical insulator, which is important, especially in energy applications and electric motors. Further, composite materials and ceramics weigh less than steel which means that centrifugal forces are reduced.
“By replacing conventional greased bronze bushings with composite bearings in industrial applications, you can save weight and reduce the need for lubrication. This makes it possible to use simpler and cheaper machinery. For our water-lubricated bearings, designed for shafts in ships, lubrication with grease is replaced with seawater, which eliminates the emission of lubricants to the sea. At the same time, you get very low friction when the propeller shaft slides on top of a film of water,” concludes Svedberg.
Glass manufacturing and purification
The float glass method is a hardening process used in the manufacturing of glass. The glass is cooled from 800 °C to 200 ° C. In the oven, the glass is transported on covered rolls having a smooth surface to not damage the glass while achieving operating temperatures up to 1000 ° C.
Diamorph supplies covered rolls with a lifetime exceeding ten years. Ceramic conveyor rolls used in the manufacturing of tiles is another example of an application where the rolls have to withstand high temperatures. Diamorph produces the world’s longest conveyor rollers, up to six feet long, which increases the oven’s capacity and reduces energy consumption per tile.
Stricter legislation on emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere from industry is increasing demands on filtration of hot gas. Such filtering requires materials that can withstand very high temperatures and can therefore make use of advanced materials to replace asbestos. Here is the ceramic material that can withstand high temperatures and Diamorph manufactures filters that are tailored for different types of treatment processes.
The article was published in November 2013
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