From the year 1982 onwards manufacturing SiC Heaters and holding more than 90% of the current market in India and exporting all over the world. Silcarb now boasts of a range of high-density MoSi2 heater range, a wide customer-centric Kiln Furniture production centre, and a brand new facility for the manufacture of fine Technical Ceramics including Nitrides, Carbides and Titanates. Silcarb has been supplying a whole range of furnaces form the year 2015.
Our Products
- Silicon Carbide Heating Elements (SiC Heaters)
- Molybdenum Di-Silicide Heating Elements (MoSi2 Heaters)
- Industrial Furnaces
- Kiln Furniture
- Technical Ceramics
Silicon Carbide Heating Elements (SiC Heaters)
Silcarb has been in the field of manufacturing silicon carbide heaters for the past four decades. Silcarb started its journey manufacturing “beta” Silicon Carbide based heating elements in the year 1982.
The processes involved using a low-density carbon rod/tube (based on its diameter) as the starting raw material. The tube acted as its own heat source where a high current would pass through the tube making it a resistance.
A covering of various chemicals and catalysts along with silica and heated in excess of 1900 degrees c could convert the carbon to beta silicon carbide. The transformed tube would then be cut or “spiralled” in the centre to create a hot zone of high resistance which would form the main heat source for the heater.
Due to various limitations and Silcarb’s concern for the environment. Silcarb moved away from these manufacturing processes to the more common “alpha” silicon carbide heating element manufacturing processes. This process mainly involves a high-pressure extrusion process followed by green low-temperature baking and high-temperature recrystallization at temperatures in excess of 2450 degrees c where the beta silicon carbide grains convert(recrystallize) to alpha silicon carbide, thereby achieving the required density.
Silcarb has a strict in coming to quality inspection of all its raw materials.
Silcarb has it’s in house jet milling process where many of the nanoparticles required for the manufacture of this very high-density product are manufactured in a carefully controlled environment. Raw material blending for the process is something Silcarb has perfected over the years where the various binders and raw materials are milled,v-blended, sigma blended etc.
Silcarb uses some of the best high-pressure cold extrusion presses available in the market. Very high vacuum is drawn out of the “blend” to achieve high green densities with very low porosity. We at Silcarb call our extrusion processes “an art” and not an “exact science” These extruded products are backed using large infrared drying ovens.
Silcarb has a number of recrystallization furnaces when then convert these green products to high-density silicon carbide heaters.
Molybdenum Di-Silicide Heating Elements (MoSi2 Heaters)
The “MOSIL” range of Molybdenum die silicide heaters that Silcarb manufactures has its beginning in ultra-high purity Molybdenum powders and PV grade silicon metal(single crystal silicon). The MOSIL that Silcarb manufactures with its own indigenous process has all stages of manufacture inhouse with complete control of all the processes.
Incoming raw material powders are thoroughly tested for purity and particle distribution etc in Silcarb’s in house lab. The basic process involves an ignition reaction between the Molybdenum powder and silicon powders to produce a high-density molybdenum di-silicide powder of very high purity. This process is run on a controlled water-cooled reaction cell. The raw product obtained from the above process is jet-milled to nanoparticles and a very controlled “bi-modal” distribution to provide the ideal powder distribution to maximize the green density of the extruded product. The powders are extruded to the required shapes and sizes and green baked and fired to obtain a product in excess of 5.7 gm/cc in density. Silcarb does a density check of each of its batches of heaters manufactured.
The heaters are suitably glazed to form an oxide cover and the hot and cold zones are welded on. Silcarb’s heaters over the years have been successfully used under high watt densities in furnace temperatures of 1720 degrees c continuously. Silcarb prides itself in manufacturing these heaters in very high consistency of quality batch after batch year after year due to its investment in processes control.
Industrial Furnaces
Silcarb manufactures a whole range of furnaces at its fabrication plant in Bangalore. The furnace manufacturing division of Silcarb is broadly divided into the following:-
- Design division with detailed customer interaction
- Metal fabrication division
- A complete in-house machine shop
- Refractory lining department with a highly skilled and experienced workforce with over 30 years of experience in the refractory lining of various types of furnace
- Electrical design department
- Electrical fabrication department
- A separate team for pre-despatch testing, installation at the customer site.
Major types of industrial furnaces manufactured at Silcarb are, Tower Melting Furnaces, Tower Melting Cum Holding Furnaces, Dosing Furnaces, Aluminium Melting Furnaces, Mobile Electric Holding Furnaces, Crucible Type Tilting Furnace(Copper, Aluminium, Zinc), Aluminium Holding Furnace With Cast Crucible, Reverberatory Furnaces, High-Temperature Furnace, Heat Treatment Furnaces, Galvanizing Furnaces, Electric Forging Furnaces Muffle Furnaces etc.
Kiln Furniture
Silcarb has been in the field of high-temperature ceramics, Kiln Furniture for the last four decades manufacturing and using ceramics in excess of 2450 degrees centigrade.
Silcarb currently manufactures the following Types of Kiln Furnitures
- Oxide Bonded Silicon Carbide (OBSIC)
- Nitride Bonded Silicon Carbide (NBSIC)
- Silicon Impregnated Silicon Carbide (SISIC / RBSIC)
- Recrystallized Silicon Carbide (RSIC)
Technical Ceramics
Silcarb works in the field of technical ceramics for the molten metal industry. The complete process of powder preparation (jet milling), mixing, spray drying, forming(CIP, cold isostatic pressing) drying, green machining, sintering, grinding and the final inspection is done in House. No processes of the technical ceramics that we manufacture is outsourced and hence Silcarb has complete control at each stage of manufacture.
We have our in house jet mill, in house spray drying unit and full machine centre in order to custom manufacture all our technical ceramics. Every stage has its inbuilt quality check thereby producing a high-quality product time after time. All technical ceramics that Silcarb manufactures go through full quality inspection before despatch. Silcarb has it’s in house lab ( a number of test furnaces) where the products manufactured are tested in a ‘real world’ situation.
Silcarb has a separate unit dedicated to manufacturing these ceramics. We currently use various manufacturing and forming techniques to manufacture our kiln furniture ranging from slip casting to extrusion. We use a number of high-pressure sintering processes and employe a number of vacuum high-temperature kilns to manufacture our kiln furniture. Silcarb is constantly working with its vast customer base in order to improve the load density and optimise the kiln furniture design to reduce fuel consumption and therefore improve productivity.
Major types of Technical Ceramics manufactured at Silcarb
Get in touch with Silcarb you will find us quick and easy to work with and we will deliver a product which is cost-effective without compromise on quality, time after time, year after year.