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< Powder processing using our 24-ft-diam.Anhydro spray dryer
Process Under Control
Capabilities: Far Beyond Vacuum BrazingWhen it comes to highly engineered hermetically sealed electrical or optical assemblies the joining orbonding technology is really about selecting materials with similar coefficients of thermal expansion.The importance of material purity, quality and consistency is paramount. For this reason, CeramTec iscompletely vertically integrated and thus controls the process from beginning to end. This begins withceramic powder production right through the machining and welding of precision metal components.
Hard (diamond) grinding of ceramic productsto achieve tight tolerances.
Continuous tunnel kiln used to fireceramic insulators.
Powder ProcessingThe technical ceramic process starts with the
MetallizingCeramTec employs a number of proprietary
metallizing processes but the vast majority of
the metallized insulators used in our
Ceramaseal® assemblies are manufactured
using thick-film metallization of alumina
ceramics. The most common method used is
the refractory metal process, which utilizes
molybdenum as a sintered metal base layer
on the ceramic. The wide selection of molyb-
denum based coatings along with the strin-
gent furnace operating parameters insures
good bond strength and reliability with alu-
mina body compositions of 85-99% alumi-
na. Typical applications methods include
hand painting, screen printing or using one
of our automated metallizing banders. In-
process inspection and verification of metal-
lizing and plating thickness are performed by
x-ray fluorescence (XRF).
PlatingMetallized ceramic insulators that will be
used in our moly-manganese sealing process
have to be nickel plated first. CeramTec has
both electroless and electrolytic nickel plating
lines, which are used for plating over the
molybdenum metallizing on the insulators as
well as other metal components. A separate
gold plating line is primarily used to gold
plate the pins and female contacts on fin-
ished connector assemblies to maximize the
electrical contact.
Critical AssemblyWithin the Assembly Department themetallized insulators will be assembledwith the conductors/pins, weldadapters, sleeves or caps and brazealloys. The parts are assembled on a fir-ing fixture and will be fired within one ofour many brazing furnaces, which arespecific to the braze alloy used and theconfiguration or size of the part. Criticalcomponents are assembled in an ultra-clean environment using protective wearto prevent contamination.
Vacuum Brazing CeramTec has a variety of furnaceswhich allow high temperature brazing invacuum, hydrogen, nitrogen, or partialpressure atmospheres. A broad selectionof brazing filler metals are used and areselected based on the optimization tothe base metals (or ceramic) to bebrazed. These include precious metal,copper, and high nickel alloys with melt-ing ranges from 705°C to 1300°C. This
broad temperature capability allows forthe flexibility of step brazing when acomplex assembly has multiple brazejoints.
The ‘active metal’ ceramic-to-metalbrazing process is a one-step operationcompared to the moly-manganeseprocess, which typically has five steps.This process requires an ‘active’ elementthat will react with the ceramic, forminga reaction layer between the ceramicand the molten braze that will reducethe interfacial energy to such a level thatwetting of the ceramic takes place. Thisactive element typically refers to a smallpercentage of titanium or zirconiumadded to the braze filler metal or direct-ly applied to the ceramic. The activebraze process is ideally suited for sealingto sapphire, larger ceramic to metalassemblies, and non-oxide ceramics.CeramTec’s third sealing process isreferred to as glass-ceramic sealing. Thisis glass-to-metal sealing whereby the
amorphous glass material is "crystal-lized" through a subsequent heat treat-ment. The resulting material is primarilycrystalline in nature and takes on similarproperties to ceramic. The high temper-ature glass-ceramic materials that havecharacteristics suitable for high vacuum,high pressure, high thermal expansion,and temperature capability from cryo-genic to 450°C bake out. This glass-ceramic sealing process is ideal forsealing to high expansion metals such as304 or 316 stainless steel and is com-monly used for our high density connec-tors and matched impedance coaxialconnectors.
During the design process, CeramTectypically uses Finite Element Analysis(FEA) to initially test different joint con-figurations, braze alloys and brazingconditions prior to any actual brazing. Ascanning electron microscope (SEM) isused to analyze the braze joints duringproduct development.
Thick film metallization of ceramic insulators.
Assembly of Ceramaseal® products in a controlled environment.
Electrolytic nickel plating of metallizedceramic insulators and other metalcomponents.
Vacuum brazing furnaces with computerprogrammed profiles.
4 5
WeldingMany of CeramTec’s standard and customCeramaseal® products require the weld-ing of the feedthroughs into flanges orplates. We are equipped with both auto-matic and manual pulsed T.I.G. weldingstations. For precision welding applica-tions that require a lower welding tem-perature to protect the seal joint, weutilize laser welding technology.Induction brazing equipment is also used.
Machining of Metal ComponentsMachining of complex metal compo-nents is all done within our in-housemachine shop. We utilize multiple EDMand wire EDM machines, CNC andmechanical lathes, milling machines andother metal machining equipment toprecision machine the components usedwithin our assemblies. We also machineour own firing fixtures and the dies usedwithin our pressing equipment.
Machining of metal components forCeramaseal® assemblies using a CNC lathe.
Welding of Ceramaseal® products usingan automatic T.I.G. welding lathe
Helium leak testing of our Ceramaseal® products.
Quality System Regist
ered
Testing & Inspection CeramTec’s products and assemblies areapplied to the most rigorous applica-tions, which require a very high level ofquality assurance. For this reason 100 %of CeramTec's Ceramaseal® Products areleak-tested on one of our many dry heli-um mass spectrometers before they arestocked or shipped. All parts are guar-anteed to 1x10-10 Atm cc/sec He. Leaktest certificates are available uponrequest. For dimensional accuracy,CeramTec tests all critical componentson one of our coordinate measuringmachines (CMM).
There are stringent cleaning process-es that are adhered to throughout themanufacturing and packaging process.
Class-1000 clean room facilities are alsomaintained for those customers thatrequire special cleaning & packaging.
Throughout all of our processes thereare rigorous quality standards that aremet and thorough inspections of incom-ing parts, in-process parts and finalassemblies. CeramTec North America isISO 9001:2000 quality system regis-tered. Exceeding the customers’ expec-tations is about more than shipping aquality product on time. It is about ahigher level of customer service and sup-port than is required, which is what oursales and customer service staff aim toaccomplish throughout the salesprocess.
Helium Leak Test
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Customer service representativesstanding by to serve you.
Testing and Ratings Table of Contents
FeedthroughA
IsolatorE
ViewportF
B
PressureG
AccessoriesH
Technical ReferenceI
Multipin Connector
CCoaxial
DThermocouple
Instrumentation / Power A.1 Page 14-15Power A.2 Page 16-17Pin Header A.3 Page 18-19Multipin Header A.4 Page 20-21Micro & Mini HV A.5 Page 22-25Power Plug A.6 Page 26-35High Power – Liquid Cooled A.7 Page 36-41High Voltage A.8 Page 42-47RF Power – Liquid Cooled A.9 Page 48-49Baseplate A.10 Page 50-51
Micro D Type: MIL-DTL-83513 B.1 Page 56-57Sub D Type: MIL-C-24308 B.2 Page 58-59Circular Type: MIL-C-26482 B.3 Page 60-63Circular Type: MIL-C-5015 B.4 Page 64-65Circular Type Power: MIL-C-5015 B.5 Page 66-69High Voltage B.6 Page 70-71Baseplate B.7 Page 72-73
Loop Type D.1 Page 142-143Spade Type D.2 Page 144-147Spade & Power D.3 Page 148-149MIL-C-5015 Type D.4 Page 150-151
The ratings in this catalog are providedas a guide only. Product should be inde-pendently tested to determine suitabilityfor your application. Custom testing isavailable upon request.
Temperature RatingsInsulation resistance for ceramic materi-als decreases as temperature increases.Most products in this catalog have aminimum room temperature resistanceof 5000 megohms at 500 volts.Maximum temperature ratings listed arefor bake-out only. The insulation resist-ance at these temperatures may not besuitable for all applications.
Note that the thermal gradient forany of the ceramic-to-metal or glass-
c e r a m i cseals in this
catalog shouldnot exceed 25° C
per minute. Severethermal gradients can be
detrimental to joint designdue to variations in expansion
coefficients and the thermal conductivityof components.
The upper temperature ratings in thiscatalog are determined by a sequence ofvacuum bake outs at 50° C incrementsand 1 hour holds starting at 200° C andproceeding until failure or 550° C.
The lower temperature rating isdetermined by progressive thermalshocks starting with 5 cycles from roomtemperature (RT) to -25° C, followed byRT to -65° C. The thermal shock proce-dure follows MIL-STD-202F, Method107G. This is followed by cycling fromRT to liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperature(approx. -200° C). The part is then vac-uum baked out and helium leak tested.
Pressure RatingsPressure ratingswithin this cata-log were deter-mined by firstwelding the com-ponent into asuitable flange oradapter, thenpressurizing at
50 – 500 psi increments up to 50,000 psior until failure. All pressure testing isdone at room temperature (20°C). Aftereach pressure increment, critical dimen-sions are measured to monitor plasticdeformation of metal components and a
helium leak test is performed to verifyhermeticity. An appropriate safety fac-tor is applied depending on the failuremode of the test sample (Catastrophicfailures - no observable yielding of ametal component prior to ceramic fail-ure or Ductile failures - observable yield-ing of a metal component (<.003”) hastaken place.)
Current RatingsThe current ratings for the standardproducts within this catalog are basedon the amount of current necessary tocause a maximum allowable tempera-ture rise of 60° C. The conductors of theassembly are connected with jumpers sothat the applied current passes throughall conductors simultaneously. The tem-perature rise is measured with a thermo-couple placed on the assembly in thelocation of the conductor seals.Temperature rise is measured as a func-tion of time for a given applied currentuntil the steady state temperature is
achieved.
Voltage RatingsThe voltage ratings in thiscatalog are based upon oper-ation with one side in dryatmospheric conditions whilethe opposite end (right side indrawings) is in a stable vacu-um environment with a sys-tem pressure of 1x10-4 torr.
Other comparable environments wouldbe air pressure of 80 psi or high dielec-tric oil. Note that the voltage rating onmany of our high voltage products arewhen used with the mating air side plugor cable assembly and are noted as such.During testing, voltage is appliedbetween a conductor and the outerground shell of the assembly. The volt-age is slowly increased until flashoveroccurs. Based on the magnitude of theflashover voltage, an appropriate safetyfactor is applied.
VSWR (Voltage Standing Wave Ratio)The VSWR vs. Frequency charts in theCoaxial section of this catalog were gen-erated through the testing of parts ona network analyzer using NISTtraceable calibration standards.
Dimensional InformationAll drawing dimensionswithin this catalog arefor reference only.Tolerances willvary by spe-cific product line and will depend on var-ious geometric parameters. Vacuumand pressure specifications apply to theright side of the drawings. All dimen-sions are in inches [millimeters].
RoHS Compliant99.5% ofthe productswithin thiscatalog are
RoHS compliant. Those parts that aren’tcompliant will be noted as such.