Hannover. Due to the broad spectrum of applications throughout industry, ceramics are to an ever-greater extent capturing the attention of buyers and development engineers. Thanks to their excellent properties – above all in combination with additive manufacturing techniques – ceramic materials have become important “problem-solvers” in the mechanical and plant engineering sectors, industrial manufacturing and materials science. The latest developments will be on show at Industrial Supply as the Leading Trade Fair for Innovative Subcontracting Solutions and Lightweight Construction, which is taking place under the umbrella of HANNOVER MESSE from 24 to 28 April 2017 in Hannover, Germany.

Ceramics offer key benefits on account of their extreme hardness, dimensional stability and wear resistance. They are the ideal solution for highly loaded components – for example, in machining and metal-forming applications. Advanced ceramic materials are also used for test plugs in the apparatus industry, and for small-component grippers in electronics manufacturing.

High-performance ceramic materials are now widely deployed in mainstream sectors such as the automotive industry (e.g. in welding applications), the food industry (e.g. in complex production and bottling plants), medical technology, energy technology, electronics/electrical engineering, aerospace and many other fields.

The complete spectrum of Engineering Ceramics

This spectrum ranges from miniscule components to large-sized modules. In 2017 the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems (IKTS) will be making its debut at HANNOVER MESSE. Among various other exhibits the Institute will be presenting a ceramic radial pump impeller which has been developed and tested in collaboration with SICCast GmbH & Co. KG. This component, with its widely varying wall thickness and complex undercuts, convincingly demonstrates the great potential of high-performance ceramics.

Featuring 12 member companies, the Think Ceramics pavilion by the German Ceramics Industry Association (VKI) will cover a complete range of materials: silicate ceramics (e.g. steatite and cordierite); oxide ceramics (e.g. aluminum oxide, zirconium oxide, magnesium oxide, silicon oxide); and non-oxide ceramics (e.g. silicon carbide). The focus will also be on practical applications in electronics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and process engineering.

In 2017 the Applied Ceramics pavilion (organized by the Göller publishing house) will once again bring together researchers, customers and suppliers. Here as well, the emphasis will be on the huge variety of possible uses for industrial ceramics.