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Cermets (Metal Ceramic Composite

Material):
Cermets are example of large-particle composites. These
are ceramicmetal composites, containing hard ceramic
particles dispersed in a metallic matrix.

The most common cermet is cemented carbide, which is

composed of extremely hard particles of a refractory
carbide ceramic such as tungsten carbide (WC) or
titanium carbide (TiC), embedded in a matrix of a metal
such as cobalt or nickel. These composites are used
extensively as cutting tools for hardened steels. The hard
carbide particles provide the cutting surface but, being
extremely brittle, are not themselves capable of
withstanding the cutting stresses. Toughness is
enhanced by their inclusion in the ductile metal matrix,
which isolates the carbide particles from one another and
prevents particle-to-particle crack propagation.

Production of Cermet Industrially

Cermet production is not notably different from the

production of hard metal. The selected raw materials
based on carbide, carbonitride and nitride are milled and
spray dried in order to produce a granulate that can be
pressed. The following pressing and sintering operations
result in a compact and hard form. Further finishing
operations such as grinding, honing and coating then
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produce a ready for use indexable insert. Cermets

Compared to hard metal, powder preparation, pressing,
sintering and grinding are more complex operations.
State-of-the-art processes and production plants
represent the basis for high-quality cermets.

Water Tape body is some what made of cermet.

What are cermets?

Ceramic plus metal = cermet. It's really that simple! Why

would you want to combine a metal and a ceramic?
Metals, though versatile, aren't capable of withstanding
the incredibly high temperatures you typically encounter
in airplane jet engines or space rockets. Ceramics are
brilliant at high temperatures and able to resist attack by
chemicals and things like oxygen in the air, but their
sheer inertness means they're just pretty boring most of
the time. Brilliant for teapots and false teeth, but fairly
hopeless when it comes to doing interesting things like
conducting electricity or heat or bending and flexing. If
you want something that can survive in really tough
environments and still behave in interesting ways, you
need to switch your attention to things like alloys,
compositesand cermets.
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"Cermet" is a generic name for a whole range of different

composites. Sometimes the ceramic is the biggest
ingredient and acts as the matrix (effectively the base or
binder) to which particles of the metal are attached.
Cermets used for electrical applications are typically
made this way (in other words, they are examples of
ceramic matrix composites or CMCs). But the metal
component (typically an element such as cobalt,
molybdenum, or nickel) can also be the matrix, giving
what's called a metal matrix composite (MMC), in which
hard ceramic particles are held together by a tough but
ductile metal. Cermets used in things like cutting tools
are made this way.

Like other composites, cermets "work" by producing a

material with a microstructure that has certain things in
common with each of its different constituents. For
example, the metal ingredient effectively allows electrons
to flow through the material, enabling what would
otherwise be a ceramic insulator to conduct electricity.
That suggests cermets are relatively stable structures in
which the metal and the ceramic are fixed in placebut
that's not always the case. Under some conditions,
cermets behave as though they have a dynamic surface
layer, with metal particles constantly detaching and
reattaching themselves. This effectively forms a
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smoother, harder, and more wear-resistant upper layer

that makes a metal behave more like a ceramic.

What are cermets used for?

Electrical components are one obvious application.

Because they can get extremely hot, they need to behave
like ceramics but, since they also need to conduct
electricity, it helps if they work like metals. Cermets offer
a perfect solution in components such as resistors and
vacuum tubes (valves). Crudely, we can think of cermet
resistors as a mixture of an insulator (the ceramic
matrix) and a conductor (the metal particles), with the
type and relative proportions of the two "ingredients"
(ceramic and metal) determining the ultimate resistance.

An early design for a cermet-based electrical resistor from

US Patent 2,950,995

Artwork: An early design for a cermet-based electrical

resistor from the 1950s. The cermet (red, 10) is made
from a nonconducting glass binder and conducting metal
particles, mounted on a ceramic, insulating base (blue,
11), and connected to a circuit through two electrodes
(green, 12/13). Artwork from US Patent 2,950,995:
Electrical resistance element by Thomas M. Place, Sr.
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and Thomas M. Place, Jr., courtesy of US Patent and

Trademark Office.

Machine tools are another increasingly common use for

cermets, which offer greater toughness and wear
resistance than more traditional materials. Titanium
carbide (TiC), from which many cutting and drilling tools
are made, is a popular choice of cermet for tools used in
milling, turning and boring, and for making threads and
grooves. Typically cermet tools are made from either with
titanium carbide alone or with both titanium carbide and
titanium nitride (TiN). Generally, cermets provide higher
cutting-tool speeds, better surface finish, and last much
longer than traditional tool parts. Unlike tools coated in
carbide, cermet-coated tools do not wear in the same way
but effectively regenerate themselves.

Sparks from a circular saw

Photo: Cutting tools made from cermets last longer and

produce a better surface finish than traditional carbide
tools. Photo by Eduardo Zaragoza courtesy of US Navy.

The interesting surface properties of cermets also make

them useful for reducing friction in machine parts. Some
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companies sell "ceramic metal conditioners" for engines

that simultaneously make metal surfaces both smoother
and tougher, reducing friction and wear at the same
time, giving the dual benefits of greater fuel economy and
longer engine life. Products such as this provide similar
benefits to lubricants but work in an entirely different
way by effectively modifying the surface structure of
metal machine parts to make them behave more like
ceramics. Since the particles involved are atoms and
molecules, what we have here is a perfect example of
nanotechnology in action.

Military applications of cermets include their use as

lightweight protective coatings on clothing and friction-
reducing surface layers on nuclear submarines.
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Artwork: Simplified cermet microstructure (the fine inner, structure you'll see if you look at a cermet
with a powerful microscope). In the type of cermet used in cutting tools,

Who invented cermets?

Metallurgist Peter Schwarzkopf of Metallwerk Plansee

GmbH in Austria developed the first cermet around 1930.
It was Titanit-S, with the chemical formula TiCMo2C
(Ni,Mo,Cr), a "hardmetal" made from titanium carbide
and molybdenum designed for cutting tools.
Unfortunately, it proved too brittle for widespread
commercial use and it wasn't until the 1960s that
titanium carbide cermets with a nickel/molybdenum
binder were introduced by the Ford Motor Company for
use in machine tools.

Metal Ceramic Matrix:

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The metal is used as a binder for an oxide, boride,

or carbide. Generally, the metallic elements used
are nickel, molybdenum, and cobalt. Depending on the
physical structure of the material, cermets can also
be metal matrix composites, but cermets are usually less
than 20% metal by volume.

Bioceramics

Bioceramics play an extensive role in biomedical

materials. The development of these materials and

diversity of manufacturing techniques has broadened

the applications that can be used in the human body.
They can be in the form of thin layers on metallic
implants, composites with a polymer component, or even
just porous networks. These materials work well within
the human body for several reasons. They are inert, and
because they are resorbable and active, the materials can
remain in the bBioceramics play an extensive role in
biomedical materials. The development of these materials
ody unchanged. They can also dissolve and actively take
part in physiological processes, for example,
when hydroxylapatite, a material chemically similar to
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bone structure, can integrate and help bone grow into it.
Common materials used for bioceramics include
alumina, zirconia, calcium phosphate, glass ceramics,
and pyrolytic carbons.
One important use of bioceramics is in hip replacement
surgery. The materials used for the replacement hip
joints were usually metals such as titanium, with the hip
socket usually lined with plastic. The multiaxial ball was
tough metal ball but was eventually replaced with a
longer-lasting ceramic ball. This reduced the roughening
associated with the metal wall against the plastic lining
of the artificial hip socket. The use of ceramic implants
extended the life of the hip replacement parts.
Cermets are also used in dentistry as a material for
fillings and prostheses.

Transportation:

Ceramic parts have been used in conjunction with metal

parts as friction materials for brakes and clutches.

Basic Composition Mainly Found:

CERAMICS:

Tungsten carbide, molybdenum boride, and aluminum

oxide.

METALS:

Iron, cobalt, nickel, and chromium.

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General Properties:-

High temperature resistance

Hardness

Ability to undergo plastic deformation

Superior wear and corrosion properties

More resistant to high velocity impacts.

Lightweight

The use of ceramic implants extended the life of the

hip replacement parts.

Better thermal shock resistance

High strength

Moderate thermal conductivity.

Uses in Manufacturing;

Manufacturing: resistors, capacitors, and other electronic

components, also vacuum tubes and for joints and seals.

spacecraft: shielding

Bioceramics: play an extensive role in biomedical

materials (prosthesis ).

In transportation: as friction materials for brakes

and clutches.

Armor: lightweight ceramic projectile proof armor

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Nuclear: storage of nuclear waste, fabrication of engines.

Further Applications:

Ceramic-to-metal mechanical seals have also been used.

Traditionally they have been used in fuel cells and other
devices that convert chemical, nuclear, or thermionic
energy to electricity. The ceramic-to-metal seal is
required to isolate the electrical sections of turbine-
driven generators designed to operate in corrosive liquid-
metal vapors.

Microscopic Analysis Spectroscopic Method

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