Operations
Shengkai designs, manufactures and distributes ceramic valves in 34 series under 9 categories, covering almost every general type of valve available for industrial use in the world. Shengkai’s valve sizes range from 32mm to 1000mm and can withstand pressure up to 42MPa. The company provides a series of services related to industrial ceramic valves, including manufacture, installation and maintenance of general industrial ceramic valves, as well as the design and manufacture of various non-standard ceramic valves as required by customers’ special operating conditions.
Production is comprised of three processes: ceramic piece production, machine-work of ceramic and metal components, and assembly. Currently, the total area of the production plant is 22,000 m2, with 131 sets of machine tools, of which 40 sets are for ceramics, and 91 sets of digitally controlled machine tools.
Ceramics are friable and non-plastic and, given that to-date we believe that there is no special equipment available for ceramic processing in the world, as such not only can be difficult to process but also have a limited field of application. Shengkai has overcome these disadvantages by applying the following features to its products:
- adding zirconia to alumina ceramics to increase toughness and resistance to corrosion;
- successfully using Martensite transformation toughening technology to increase toughness and reduce deformability; and
- applying nano-sized powder technology to improve toughness and other features.
- altering existing metal processors so as to enable Shengkai to apply cold-working techniques to its ceramic products.
Shengkai has developed a solid solution and agent that lowers firing temperature and enhances the homogeneous dispersion of ceramic pulp, applying the theories of solid solution, chemical dispersion and the rational sintering temperature curve. This technology effectively controls the contraction ratio during the ceramic sintering process to greatly improve the rate of finished products. Currently, the rate of sintered finished goods of various calibers of Shengkai’s valve products has reached over 90%, and firing temperatures for Shengkai’s products are 80°C-120°C lower than the world standard in the industry.
Shengkai has also developed various joint technologies under various temperatures, so as to solve problems that arise from the combination of ceramics and metal with different coefficients of thermal expansion and to ensure that the valves produced are leak-proof. Shengkai mainly selects ceramic material of partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ), tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (TZP), zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) and zirconia toughened mullite (ZTM).
Shengkai's ability to produce a comprehensive category of high-quality ceramic products, together with its self-developed ceramic processor, leak-proof valve sealing technology and strong technology development capacity, distinguish it from its domestic and international competitors.
