Dynamic ceramics ESK Ceramics

DYNAMIC CERAMICS

Progressive technical ceramics company ESK is utilising its market-leading position and introducing additional advanced non-oxide ceramics and special materials to new markets. Industry Europe spoke to vice-president of sales and marketing, Christoph Nitsche. Emma-Jane Batey reports.

Established in Kempten, Germany, in 1922, ESK Ceramics is an advanced technical ceramics company with customers in almost all key industries. ESK is well-known for setting the standards of quality and performance worldwide across its ceramics portfolio. A wholly owned subsidiary of Californian-based publicly listed company Ceradyne Inc. since 2004, whose 2000 employees across 12 sites generate over $400 million last year, ESK today has 18 brands and 10 specialised materials.

Manufacturing ceramics for nearly 90 years, ESK has steadily built up its reputation for developing and producing high-quality non-oxide ceramics and its range of specialised materials. Primarily silicon nitrite, boron nitrite, boron carbide and silicon carbide, the specialised materials represent many of the company’s well-known brands. ESK’s silicon nitrite is known as EKasic, its boron carbide is called TETRABOR® and EKasin® is a silicon nitrite.

Strong portfolio

Generally, ESK focuses its activities on carbides, nitrites and some borides. Vice- president of sales and marketing, Christoph Nitsche, told Industry Europe more about the company’s portfolio. He said, “Our core products are our structural ceramics, with the main applications in the mechanical rather than electrical usage. All our products are manufactured at our Kempten site, where we have state-of-the-art equipment and a highly skilled workforce. The ESK name is also widely associated with our longest established product – evaporation boats. This process is used every day across a wide range of applications, from the silver paper that you get in coffee packets to the aluminium-like shiny paper found on the top of beer bottles.”

ESK also produces one special product for the automotive industry. EKagrip shims are very thin metal foils with a diamond particle coating that helps friction enhancement by a factor of three. Used by the automotive industry to increase transmitted torque from the engine to the gearbox, EKagrip is used by virtually all of the major OEM engine manufacturers.

As the market leader in silicon carbide for fluid handling, ESK’s products are used for sliding bearings in chemical pumps, as well as a number of other industrial applications. In the boron carbide field, ESK has two main markets, with its ceramics used in bulletproof inserts for armoured vests and in sand -blasting nozzles.

ESK’s production of boron nitrite represents an important market for the company, with many industry sectors utilising its advanced ceramics. Mr Nitsche explained, “Boron nitrite is a very flexible product for many applications. In the cosmetic industry for example, boron nitrite’s clean white colour and excellent thermal conductivity make it idea for use in colour cosmetics as it helps the vibrancy of the colours. The microstructure of boron nitrite means it’s not hard like other ceramics, but more like chalk, so its small platelets make for a very flattering coverage of the skin that helps hide fine wrinkles and vastly reduces sweating under make-up. In the electronic industry thermo-conductive polymers with boron nitrite fillers are utilised where thermal management is required.

The latest ESK advanced ceramic product is called PetroCeram®. The sand-control filter screen has been specially created for the oil and gas industry, particularly for exploration and production.

Growing world of production

The company’s product portfolio delivers reliability and quality to its customers worldwide, with the Kempten facilities soon to be joined by an additional production facility in China. Mr Nitsche said, “On 8 August, the new site in China will be up and running. It represents a major investment by Ceradyne, and ESK will have the dedicated use of an area of this large facility for our own manufacturing requirements. The Kempten site will continue to focus on development and production for our European and American customers, with the Chinese site primarily working on producing silicone carbide parts for the local food handling industry.”

Europe is the company’s main market, with America a close second, and now growth in China is predicted in the coming months and years, particularly as the new site will allow ESK to react quickly to customer requests. The company also has plans to open additional sites, with an increase in its footprint in China as well as a further site in the USA or Mexico.

Mr Nitsche says that ESK has ‘very aggressive growth goals’; the company intends to grow by a factor of five over the next ten years. He concluded, “This growth will mainly come from our existing product family, although we are always looking to innovate and develop because this forward thinking has characterised our long history in this business. Our main focus for growth will come from a small shift in our philosophy: we will move from being simply a component manufacturer to more of a system supplier. We already have the capability and skill to do this, and as we introduce new product innovations such as ceramic heat exchangers, micro-reactors and other new products for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries in particular, our partnerships with our customers will become even more productive.” n