Never before has our society had such a massive and noticeable predilection for recycling. Many industries now want to show that they have a minimal carbon footprint and are doing everything in their power to reduce the burden they cause on the planet as a whole.
This desire has now come to the machining industry. Ceramics often go unused in many industries. This can be things such as broken or excess tiles from a construction site or any other number of ceramic using industries. Previously, we didn’t really know what to do with this excess waste and carted it off to landfills for it to live out the rest of its days.
Now, we are able to grind the ceramics into a fine powder that can then be repurposed for a staggering number of alternative uses. Turning this powder into useable machine parts is just one of these uses that is now seeing some major traction.
Why machine parts?
Many people are woefully unaware of just how prevalent ceramic parts are in the industry. Everything from electrical insulators to use in high-powered lasers and even as durable nozzles for dispensing materials from. Ceramic is highly prized for its thermal resistance, toughness, and applications in the electrical field.
Any of these parts, however, require careful machining of ceramics to get the parts to the right specifications. What this means is that there is a huge demand for people who can take ceramic waste, break it down, and then change it into a useable part.
Okay, but why ceramic?
Ceramic parts are one of the biggest places for growth in industry application currently. Both designers and engineers are finding new ways to apply ceramic to their needs, and part of this requires heavy testing. It can be prohibitively expensive for consistently machine parts from new ceramic for testing in ways that haven’t been proven to be economically viable yet, so using repurposed and recycled ceramics are a great way to test ideas before taking them to market.
The low weight and toughness of ceramics mean that over time, many parts thought only usable if they were made from metal or specialized materials can now be created from relatively simple ceramic materials. As chemistry advances and allows us to create new forms of ceramics in all manner of shapes and sizes, so do our possible applications for these ceramics.
In short, nobody wants to be left behind as better ceramic products are created which in turn is creating a huge demand for ceramic waste for recycling purposes.
They say that technology advances at an exponential pace, meaning that the time it takes for us to double our relative amount of technological advancement is shrinking with each major technological milestone. There’s very little opportunity for those who can’t manage to keep up, with obsolescence coming quickly, there is a major incentive to be on the cusp of any given field’s knowledge. Having the newest and best ceramic parts is just part of this drive for future-proofing businesses, meaning ceramic waste is at a premium currently.
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