Zirconia Ceramic Valve Components
Refractron Technologies Corp. is a leading manufacturer of technical ceramics. Products include both
controlled porosity and densely structured ceramics designed to meet requirements specified by our
customers for durability, chemical, corrosion and wear resistance, toughness, and density.
The range of dense structural ceramics using proprietary zirconia ceramics includes custom blended
ceramic alloy powders formed by isopressing or extrusion to meet customer specifications. Refractron’s
zirconia is offered in two materials Magnesia Partially Stabilized Zirconia, Mg-PSZ and Yttria Tetragonal
Zirconia Polycrystal, Y-TZP. Refractron’s structural ceramic zirconia materials provide excellent
erosion, corrosion and abrasion resistance along with temperature resistance, fracture toughness and
strength. These ceramic alloy components are used in extreme service applications that take
advantage of their superior wear and corrosion resistance. Numerous applications for these materials
are in the chemical and petrochemical industry providing economic payback in the way of reduced
maintenance and down time. Zirconia is also becoming the material of choice for components in
healthcare and dental applications.
This dense structural ceramic material is usually precision ground using conventional diamond cutters and wheels. Machines used for precision grinding include: surface grinders, CNC milling machines, jig grinders, center less grinders, CNC lathes, ID grinders, etc.
Refractron Technologies Corp’s Magnesia-partially Stabilized Zirconia (MgPSZ) is the right
choice in choosing an advanced ceramic valve trim component where the traditional metal
alloys fail. Valve trim components made with Refractron’s Zirconia have superior abrasive
resistance as compared to carbon steel, 316 Stainless, D2-Steel, Stellite Alloy 6, and Tungsten
Carbide. In addition, zirconia is inert to virtually all acids, bases, solvents, and other corrosive
slurries and fluids and it resists scaling or sticking.
Refractron’s MgPSZ zirconia ceramic lined valve components will allow you to extend your valve
component service life. Enabling you to improve operating efficiencies, reduce maintenance costs, and
minimize downtime with less frequent valve repairs. Our zirconia is extremely strong, has superior
toughness, and excellent abrasion resistant. Additionally we use a proprietary manufacturing process,
starting with the highest purity raw materials that results in a chemically superior zirconia product as
compared to the competition. This translates into superior chemical stability of the ceramic trim
components in operation when subject to the corrosive liquids and slurries in applications like: lime
slurries, sodium hydroxide and acids like hydrochloric, nitric and sulfuric.
Additional structural zirconia ceramic components produced by Refractron include: valve pump liners,
sleeves, pistons, precision ceramic balls, spools, press tooling, dental blanks, extrusion tooling and
wear plates. Other specialty porous ceramic products include filters, diffusers and adsorbent filter/drier
cores for refrigeration applications, dispersion parts, vacuum chucks, inkpads and gas probes.
We work closely with our customers to define their needs and the requirements of each specific structural ceramic valve application. Our engineering and sales team is great at attacking technical design and process problems, then customizing an innovative solution using our broad range of advanced industrial ceramics. Contact us with your application requirements.