Currently we muster a series production of ceramic valve elements that will feature thermal strength and withstand thermal shocks, wear caused by hydro and abrasive impacts as well as effects of aggressive environments. Ceramic elements are further incorporated into control and stop valve units manufacture by Russian companies.

Advantages of ceramic elements

Advantages of ball valves with locking ceramic elements inside of a metal shell compared to steel valves of various configuration include:

- higher wear resistance when used in pipelines transporting abrasive and aggressive substances as they are insensitive to aggressive environments while showing enhanced hardness;

- up to 50000 lock/unlock cycles without failure;

- a wide range of operating temperatures (from -200 to 800°С)

-reliable operation under higher pressure in a pipeline (up to 40 MPa);

-less efforts required for lock/unlock operation due to elimination of a “clutch” effect between valve elements (as provided by ceramics properties and special structure of the ball valve).

Chocks with beans made of ceramics instead of hard-alloys do not show wear under abrasive impact of sand slurries, as they feature hardness of 9 on Mohs scale compared to quartz value of 7. Chemically non-reactive ceramics (except of fluorohydrogen acid) do not interact with alkalis and acids thus significantly increasing a service life of valves operating under severe conditions and in some cases ceramics may be the only possible solution.

Materials for ceramic ball valves and chock beams are chosen based on their resistance to effects of aggressive operating environment and physical/chemical properties.
PROPERTY SINTERED SILICONE CARBIDE ZIRCONIUM DIOXIDE ALUMINA 99,5%
Density, g/сm3, not less 3,10 6,02 3,9
Micro-hardness, GPа, within 23 – 33 12- 14 17 - 22
Bending strength, МPа 350 - 450 800 – 850 300 – 350
Young's modulus, GPа, within 390- 420 180- 220 350 – 380
Crack resistance, МPа*m1/2, within 3 – 4 8 – 10 3.5 - 4
Compressive strength, МPа, not less 2500 3000 3000
Thermal conductivity, Wt/m*К 80 – 130 2 – 3 15,5 - 16,7
Coefficient of thermal expansion, 106 К-1, within 2,8 – 4 10 – 11 8 – 9