Client Challenge

• Contamination Risks: Alumina saggers leached alkaline ions into ceramic powders, compromising material purity for aerospace components.
• Thermal Shock Failures: Graphite saggers cracked after 50 thermal cycles, causing sample loss in expensive R&D experiments.
• Process Inefficiency: Frequent replacements and cleaning cycles delayed project timelines by 30%.

• Inability to maintain material purity in high-value R&D.
• Short service life in extreme thermal cycling environments.
• High costs from failed experiments and downtime.

Kegu Solution

Technical Innovations

1. Purity-Optimized Design
   • Material Composition: 99.9% pure SiC (metal impurity content <50 ppm), certified by Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM).
   • Surface Finish: Polished to Ra ≤ 0.5μm to minimize powder adhesion and ensure easy cleaning.
2. Extreme Environment Performance
   • Temperature Range: Stable from room temperature to 1800°C, withstanding 1000+ thermal cycles (-20°C to 1800°C) without cracking.
   • Corrosion Resistance: Unaffected by aggressive fluxes (e.g., Na2CO3, K2O) used in ceramic synthesis.
   • Thermal Conductivity: 140 W/m·K, enabling uniform heating and reducing sintering time by 20%.
3. Traceability & Quality Control
   • Raw Material Purity: SiC powder sourced from ultra-clean quartz deposits (ISO 14001-certified mining).
   • Production Process: Vacuum sintering at 2200°C for 20 hours under argon atmosphere to eliminate oxygen-induced defects.
   • Testing Protocol:
     • XRF analysis for elemental purity (conducted by SGS Switzerland).
     • Dyne test for surface energy compatibility with ceramic slurries.

R&D Collaboration

• Custom Prototyping: Co-developed 50mm³ mini-saggers for micro-scale sintering experiments.
• Data Sharing: Provided real-time thermal imaging data during client’s sintering trials.
• Training Support: Hosted a technical workshop on SiC sagger maintenance for the client’s research team.

Outcome

1. Purity & Process Improvements
   • Contamination Eliminated: Alkaline ion leaching reduced from 1000ppm to <50ppm, meeting aerospace material standards (e.g., ASTM F2924).
   • Sintering Efficiency: Cycle time reduced from 48 hours to 38 hours, accelerating R&D throughput.
2. Cost & Reliability Gains
   • Service Life Extended to 1000+ Cycles: 20x longer than graphite saggers, cutting replacement costs by 95%.
   • Experimental Failure Rate Dropped by 85%: Consistent performance in thermal cycling eliminated sample loss.
3. Market Impact
   • The client’s new ceramic composites (developed using Kegu saggers) won the 2024 Swiss Technology Award for aerospace innovation.
   • Kegu was listed as a preferred supplier in the client’s public procurement database for high-purity materials.

Key Data Comparison