What is it about ceramic that makes it such a good material for use as a heater?
The various advanced ceramic materials all have slightly different performance characteristics relative to one another. Each is unique with respect to temperature limits, heat conduction properties, durability, electrical characteristics, hardness and geometric stability. Depending on the application demands, these properties then become the selection criteria to determine which advanced ceramic material is appropriate for a particular heating requirement. Watlow has chosen aluminum nitride as the first ceramic material in its ULTRAMIC product line because, for the majority of applications, it has superior properties. The main features that make AlN an excellent material are: • High thermal conductivity – The AlN construction enables the heater to be constructed with a high watt density, giving it the ability to heat up at a rate of 150°C/second. • Clean, non-contaminating material – The manufacturing process of high heat and pressure results in a heater that is very hard and dense wit
