Exotics

The Zircar Process produces fibers and fibrous products in a variety of chemistries using the same process as yttria-stabilized zirconia ZYF, ZYP, ZYW, ZYFB, and ZYBF.

Pure Alumina (Al2O3) Type Al fibers and textiles yield an alumina fiber with only trace amounts of silica, making it more stable in hydrogen environments than the more commonly found sol-gel alumina fibers that have 3% silica. After high firing, Al products transition to greater than 90% alpha alumina.

Pure Yttrium Oxide Y2O3 fibrous ceramic insulation is offered in its pure and stable metal oxide yttria form, which is not attacked by most molten metals, including lithium and titanium. The fibers have an average diameter of 4-6 microns.

Pure Zirconium Oxide Type ZO is our purest zirconia product available. The process for manufacturing yttria-stabilized zirconia cloths and felts is also used in the production of pure zirconia refractory fibers and cloths without stabilizers.

For those processes that are intolerant of yttria, these unstabilized pure zirconia fiber products provide much of the same high-performance insulating benefits. ZO materials are gray and contain organics for handleability. After heat treating, they will appear white and will contain no organics.

Pure Ceria fibers and textiles are made by the same process used for manufacturing yttria-stabilized zirconia textiles. Zircar has provided ceria in several formats for use in solar redox cycle research for syngas production.

Cerium Oxide Fiber Boards have potential for use in a number of advanced energy applications such as redox flow batteries, resistive-type oxygen sensors, and fuel cells. They are also a promising advanced material because of their utility as a catalyst in solar syngas reactors.

Ceria Pellets are fabricated by forming ceria fibers and sintering them into a cylindrical or pellet shape. They were developed for research use as a thermochemical reaction medium for selectively generating syngas or methane from H2O and CO2. In this application, the actual density of the pellets combined with their shape resulted in a bulk density inside a reactor tube that met the desired theoretical ideal mass of ceria in the reactor.

Ceria Rigidizer is formulated for rigidizing flexible cloths and felts, surface hardening vacuum-formed boards and cylinders, and mixing with bulk fiber to make irregular shapes.

Hafnia (HfO2) fibers and textiles are made by the same Zircar process used for manufacturing yttria-stabilized zirconia cloths and felts. High purity hafnia fiber and textiles are offered in five different standard product forms; bulk fiber type HfBF, two felts types HfF-50 and HfF-100 and two types of cloth, types HfW-15 and HfW-30.