Silicon-carbide-Bonded diamond components for harsh environments - Cost-Effective components with outstanding properties

The availability of raw materials and new sources of energy are the major chal lenges for all industrialized countries. The exploitation of subsea reservoirs plays an increasingly important role. Due to their excellent wear and corrosion resistance, advanced ceramics may become enablers for subsea systems. New generations of pump systems, using silicon carbide SiC bonded diamond wear parts, extremely large zirconia separating cans and pres sure-resistant current feed throughs will
become part of deep sea manufacturing systems. Successful business is often lim ited as there are reservations about the reliability of ceramics. The Fraunhofer Ad vanCer Alliance will try to overcome these doubts by presenting new materials as well as the know-how for designing, manu facturing and testing key components for subsea applications. Within the internal Fraunhofer project CS³ – Ceramic Subsea Systems – the three Institutes Fraunhofer IKTS, Fraunhofer IWM and Fraunhofer IPK started to develop components based on SiC-bonded diamond materials for subsea applications. In the course of the project, complex wear parts and prototypes will be produced and tested in cooperation with industrial partners. The know-how in design and ceramic-specific calculation, manufacturing, joining and non-destruc tive testing will be available for interested partners.