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Aerospace

F35 jet on runway with mountains in the background.

CoorsTek supplies a variety of critical components for the aerospace and aviation industries. CoorsTek assists the world's foremost aircraft manufacturers by supplying technical ceramics engineered for critical-duty applications. Each component takes advantage of the unique material properties of advanced ceramics.

Antennas & Navigation Components

Navigation and communication are critical elements when flying. With up to 35 antennas per aircraft in major airliners, reducing weight while ensuring unquestionable reliability are critical factors for aerospace communication. Our ceramic components can be found in many on-board communication systems, such as:

  • Altimeters
  • L1 and L2 GPS
  • RF Communications (UHF/VHF)
  • Traffic Avoidance Collision Systems (TCAS)
  • Broadband WiFi
  • Ceramic Components for Antennas, RF, & Microwave

 

Metallized Antenna Components
Severe-service ceramic-metal and metallized antenna components and arrays serve in airborne and spaceborne environments.

RF & Microwave Components
CoorsTek provides advanced ceramic components used in high-power, high-frequency systems such as medical imaging, airport scanning, and microwave gyrotrons.

Custom Microwave & RF Components & Assemblies
CoorsTek works with you to design and produce a wide range of advanced ceramic components and brazed assemblies for your specific microwave and RF applications — from rapid prototyping through volume production.

Family of GPS antenna components using technical ceramics.

Electronic Systems & Lighting

Ceramic electronic substrates and components provide high-reliability performance for aerospace and aviation applications across a range of temperature, fluids, and environmental conditions. Engineered technical ceramics excel in high-temperature, vibration, and extreme mechanical conditions where lesser materials fail. 

Aerospace-Grade Electronic Substrates
Alumina nitride substrates for aerospace electronic applications. Alumina thick- and thin-film substrates are used to produce durable hybrid circuits for airborne and spaceborne electronic systems. In hot zones with rapid thermal gradients, aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates deliver superior performance — dissipating heat with thermal conductivity 4-6 times that of alumina.

Learn more: Thick-film Substrates | Thin-film substrates

Aerospace Lighting Components
Parabolic reflector light housing in a technical ceramic metalized assembly. CoorsTek provides robust ceramic components for high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps, LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and laser lighting systems — delivering high brightness and precise color across virtually any environment.

Learn more: High-intensity discharge lamps (HID) | Light-emitting diodes (LED)

Airborne Sensor Components
Alumina sensor components for aerospace and automotive applications. Aircraft and spacecraft use sensors across all kinds of systems — to detect pressures, temperatures, proximity, oxygen and gases, and more. CoorsTek ceramic sensor components use exclusive advanced technical ceramics to provide precise, robust sensors that withstand the extremes of aerospace applications.

Parabolic reflector using metallized technical ceramics for aerospace-grade lighting components

Propulsion & Controls

Today's aerospace technologies are demanding higher performance in the materials used inside the engines, flight controls, and fluid controls. Traditional metals used in these systems often cannot withstand the extreme conditions. This is where advanced ceramic materials are needed.

CoorsTek engineered technical ceramic components provide the mission-critical reliability needed for aerospace propulsion and control systems.

Engine Components
CoorsTek technical ceramics deliver the high-performance properties needed for the most demanding requirements in aircraft engines and advanced propulsion systems including:

  • Cerbec® balls and bearings use the thermal strength and endurance of CoorsTek silicon nitride materials
  • Ceramic igniters, bushings, and wear components
  • Ceramic tubes & rods are used in investment casting to form vanes on aircraft turbine engines.

 

Flight Control Components
Cerbec silicon nitride bearing balls for aerospace applications. Cerbec balls and other advanced ceramic components excel in the challenging mechanical and thermal conditions in critical flight control systems, such as ball screw linear actuators for wing flaps and slats.

Learn more: Cerbec® balls and bearings 

Fluid Control System Components
Alumina ball valve assembly for aerospace propulsion. Aircraft valves, seals, and hydraulic components require the high-performance properties of engineered ceramics to meet the severe-service conditions of high-temperature gas turbine engines, rockets motors, and control systems.

Learn more: Valves & Valve Components

Thermal Protection
Technical ceramic aerospace heat sink dissipators.High-efficiency engines operate at high temperatures, where advanced ceramic materials deliver reliable, long-term performance as mission-critical components, thermal insulating tiles, and thermal barrier coatings (TBC).

High-Performance Ceramic Tubes & Rods
CoorsTek offers a wide variety of tubes and rods manufactured from high-performance technical ceramic materials, including alumina, zirconia, and silicon carbide. Enhance performance and product life by using the material best suited to your application. CoorsTek materials professionals will help you choose the best material for your application.

Learn more: Tubes & Rods

Family of Cerbec silicon nitride bearing balls in various sizes.

Space

For over five decades, CoorsTek has been supporting space exploration with its technical ceramic components. Today our advanced materials are becoming more important to help space applications succeed in environments that must endure some of the harshest environmental conditions known.

Technical ceramics are ideal for these intense conditions and support lightweight structures, aerospace mirrors, rocket propulsion, hypersonic travel, navigational components, and many other applications.

Small Satellites
From providing internet service to navigation systems, to emerging autonomous vehicles for commercial and private use, the demand for NanoSats and CubeSats is growing tremendously. And this growth is expected to continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

Our technical ceramics are ideal for thermal and control systems used on satellites. By partnering with original equipment manufacturers, we can design components to work within small satellite applications and provide components manufactured with material that is superior for severe-duty applications.

Contact us to discuss your space application.

Rocket schematic showing where technical ceramics can be used.