Abstract
EXPERIMENTAL work extending over a period of years at the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research has resulted in the production of a new laboratory table top material made of a porous, non-warping ceramic body that is impregnated with bituminous substances and then heated under special conditions to form coke in the pores. Unusually high resistance to thermal shock is imparted to the material because artificial cordierite, a mineral that has a very low thermal expansion, is used in making up the ceramic body. The material can be polished to velvety smoothness, and possesses sufficient hardness to resist scratching and abrasion, ample structural and impact strength, denseness that prevents absorption of liquids, resistance to solvent action and chemical attack, and the ability to withstand perfectly the effect of rapid heating and cooling. Thus “Kemite”, as it has been called, has none of the disadvantages of the commonly used table-top materials. While Kemite was developed primarily as a laboratory table-top material, it can be fabricated in complicated shapes of large size without joints. When high resistance to thermal shock is not required, cordierite is not used in the ceramic body, and ware made from the non-cordieritic body is called ‘Karcite’. Kemite should prove useful for vats, tanks and other apparatus, because of its resistance to the action of chemicals and its low thermal expansion. In the electrical industry, the basic body, properly impregnated, can be employed for switchboard panels, specially moulded parts and complex shapes, and as an insulating material.
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A New Ceramic. Nature 139, 917 (1937). https://doi.org/10.1038/139917b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/139917b0