Overview of Centre of Excellence (CoE)

Various non-oxide ceramics including carbides, nitrides and borides are being used to meet technological challenges foreseen over the period of past four decades because of their extra ordinary material properties. Centre for Non-Oxide Ceramics (CNOC) at ARCI is being actively pursuing R&D activities in the area of several non-oxide ceramics, their coatings and composites for wide range of applications. This centre has successfully developed technologies for range of products such as reaction bonded and pressureless sintered silicon carbide for mechanical seals, wear parts and critical components including large size light-weighted and high stiffness structural parts. This centre has also developed CVD coated SiC parts for many applications due to their relatively low co-efficient of thermal expansion and extremely smooth surface that can be achieved upon polishing. The centre is actively working on the development of hot pressed silicon carbide, boron carbide and their composite materials for high impact, abrasion, and wear resistant applications, nitride based ceramics with low dielectric constant and excellent mechanical properties for RF windows and cutting tools applications. Ongoing R&D activities of the centre also include development of ready to press (RTP) SiC powder through proper selection of additives and binders, nano composites either by using nano powder as primary phase or incorporating them in the matrix as a secondary phase. Near-net shape processing of ceramic foams and other parts through colloidal processing and gel casting, processing of ceramic parts by reaction bonding techniques are other thrust areas of research pursued at this centre. In the front of combating Covid19 pandemic, the centre has taken initiatives for the development and commercialization of honeycomb-based air heating for efficient microbial disinfection system. Recently, the centre has taken up new activities for the development of glass-based sealants for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications and forming of complex shape ceramic parts through fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printing technique for structural applications.