Ceramic Product Manufacturing Information 

OK, now here is some tech-talk for designers and engineers about Ceramic Injection Molding (CIM).  If your background is in plastic materials then injection molding isn't foreign to you.  If your background is in metal materials than you can liken CIM to casting and powder metallurgy.  In either case, the objective to have geometries that are CIM friendly.

All Ceramco ceramic products undergo a firing process at temperatures of at least 1400° C, and since this heat treatment results in a shrinkage of at least 16%, any ceramic component will have some distortion after firing. However, by virtue of our unique process technology, the unfired (green) shape has a negligible density variation across any given cross section. The effect of this is a uniform shrinkage through the subsequent manufacturing steps and the result is a final ceramic product that is not distorted due to differential shrinkage.

General Tolerances for As-Fired Ceramic Product

• For dimensions over .500 inch, the tolerances are ±1%.
• For dimensions under .500 inch, the tolerances are ±1% or ±.002 inch, whichever is greater.
• Camber/flatness of tubes/plates is 0.006 inch/inch, or better.
• Out of round condition for cylindrical features is 1% maximum.
• Surface finishes are 32 µin or better in as-fired condition, but depends on material.

General Grinding Capabilities 

• Total indicator run out of .003"
• Flatness .0015"
• Parallelism .001"
• Maximum corner radius .015"
• Surface finish 16µin or better (depends on material)

General Size Parameters

• Maximum size depends on shape of part and material used; it is approximately 4 to 10 inches  
• The minimum wall thickness is approximately 0.010 inch (also depends on geometry and material).
• The maximum wall thickness is approximately 0.250 inch for fully dense materials, and porous materials can be made thicker.
• It is not possible to mold features that make the mold core non-extractable, such as undercuts on an internal diameter.
• Hole diameters generally cannot be less than 0.010 inch.