Ceramic Parts for the Automotive Industry

The advancements in the automotive industry have taken on a new phase because enhanced structural ceramics and their composite have opened another chapter for the design and production of components of mechanical structures that are capable of withholding severe temperature conditions without severe alterations to the mechanical properties. Automotive vehicles that travel long distances no longer have the challenge of periodic replacement of worn out parts because the use of ceramics as wear parts has provided a solution to the problem due to their excellent capability to resist tear and wear. Generally, coatings of automotive parts made of ceramics are regarded as the most substantial surface coating approaches whose implication is rising with the contemporary advances in technology. The ceramics coatings provide high resistance of tear and wear, reduced thermal conductivity, electric protection and extraordinary melting temperature which can be combined with excellent durability and elastic formability of metals to acquire exceptional automotive products. That approach is a good sign of the increasing number of superior materials ("Ceramic injection-molding technology produces cheaper, stronger complex ceramic parts", 2019).

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Various automotive parts can be made of ceramics coating and are likely to enhance the performance of automotive vehicles. Some of the automotive parts to which ceramics coating can be used include the design of tappets that are used for truck diesel engine and even knock sensors that enable the effective operation of gasoline engines can be made of ceramics due to its property excellent wear resistance. Some other parts to which ceramics coating is applicable include the design of thermal barrier coatings in turbocharged IC engine which has contributed to the achievement of higher thermal efficiency, improved combustion and reduced emissions of an automotive engine. In this case, low thermal conductivity ceramics can be used to regulate the distribution of temperature as well as the flow of heat in structural components of high temperature because of the integral thermal protection properties of ceramics. Ceramics coatings have also been applied to automotive turbocharger, the turbocharger turbine volute design as well as the manufacture of ceramic turbocharger rotors (Noor et al., 2014).

The elaborate designs of various automotive products such as cars and even various car components are the reasons why the application of casting approaches in their manufacture is an approach formed from the economic perspective. The current demands of manufacturing equipment restrict the automotive manufacturers to reduce the overall weight of the automotive products as one of the necessities of reducing fuel consumption. The materials that are used in the manufacture of automotive products include metallic compositions which cover up to 80% of the total weight of the automotive product and the remaining percentage covered by components made of plastic or rubbers, glass, paints, together with textiles. The metallic materials that are mostly used in car manufacture include steel, cast iron, alloys of magnesium or aluminum, sintered metals, composite materials made up of metals as well as various coatings of ceramics (Noor et al., 2014).

Ceramics are more cost-efficient as compared other metallic components and also known to be more durable than plastic. Ceramics can also be found throughout the automotive industry as the developments in car fabrication require higher intricacy in automotive components. The automotive industry as one of the renowned user of ceramics is expected to enhance the growth of the ceramics and metal industry by $3.5 billion every year by 2020 ("Ceramic injection-molding technology produces cheaper, stronger complex ceramic parts," 2019). The automotive market is mainly controlled by drivers who seek to enhance the performance of vehicles in various perspectives such as exhaust, sound, speed, the outlook among others. Therefore, the application of ceramics coating to the fabrication of automotive vehicles is likely to see an increase in the global automotive aftermarket value size from USD 335.23 billion recorded in 2016 ("Automotive Aftermarket Industry Size, Share, Trends Report, 2018-2025", 2019).

Within the past three decades, ceramics and other composite materials have been regarded the dominant rising elements, and their extent of applications has steadily grown up penetrating and taking over control new markets relentlessly. The advanced fashionable industrial ceramics is being applied to areas of production such as spacecraft tile, engine parts as well as different electronic components. The target market for automotive ceramics can be classified into automotive ceramics market by material, application as well as region. The automotive ceramics market has been organized by material into Alumina Oxide ceramic, Titanate Oxide Ceramic, Zirconia Oxide Ceramic, and many others. The classification by application comprises of automotive engine parts, automotive exhaust systems and automotive electronics alongside others. Finally, the market classification according to the region includes the Asia Pacific region, North and South America, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East as well as Africa (Market, 2019).

Generally, the growth of the automotive industry and the resource requirements have established competition between automotive manufactures of various products which have stimulated development in enhancing the innovative types and improving the quality of production. Therefore, the breakdown of the automotive market into country levels will record higher competition between countries of production such as China and Japan. Finally, it is essential to note that the future potential growth of the market of ceramic products for the automotive industry has been estimated to grow from USD 1.59 billion in 2017 to USD 2.05 billion by 2022 (Market, 2019).

References

Automotive Aftermarket Industry Size, Share, Trends Report, 2018-2025. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/aftermarket-automotive-parts-market

Ceramic injection-molding technology produces cheaper, stronger complex ceramic parts. (2019). Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2016-07-ceramic-injection-molding-technology-cheaper-stronger.html

The market, A. (2019). Automotive Ceramics Market by Material & Region - Global Forecast 2022 | MarketsandMarkets. Retrieved from https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/automotive-ceramic-market-127800594.html

Noor, A. M., Abbas, M. R., Rajoo, R., Sah, M. H. M., & Ahmad, N. (2014). Review of Ceramic Application in Automotive Turbocharged Engines. Applied Mechanics & Materials, 660.