Ceramic Fluffing Knife

Ceramic Fluffing Knife is a component consisted in high-speed cigarette machines for fluffing tipping paper so that they can be glued better and thus connected better to the cigarette rod.

Material

A ceramic knife is a knife designed with a ceramic blade typically made from zirconium dioxide (ZrO2; also known as zirconia). These knife blades are usually produced through the dry-pressing and firing of powdered zirconia using solid-state sintering. It is 8.5 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, compared to 4.5 for normal steel and 7.5 to 8 for hardened steel and 10 for diamond. The resultant blade has a hard edge that stays sharper for longer when compared to conventional steel knives. Whilst the edge is harder than a steel knife, it is less tough and thus more brittle. The ceramic blade is sharpened by grinding the edges with a diamond-dust-coated grinding wheel.

Zirconium oxide

Zirconium oxide is used due to its polymorphism. It exists in three phases: monoclinic, tetragonal and cubic. Cooling to the monoclinic phase after sintering causes a large volume change, which often causes stress fractures in pure zirconia. Additives such as magnesia, calcia and yttria are used in the manufacture of the knife material to stabilize the high-temperature phases and minimize this volume change. The highest strength and toughness is produced by the addition of 3 mol% yttrium oxide yielding partially stabilized zirconia. This material consists of a mixture of tetragonal and cubic phases with a bending strength of nearly 1,200 MPa. Small cracks allow phase transformations to occur, which essentially close the cracks and prevent catastrophic failure, resulting in a relatively tough ceramic material, sometimes known as TTZ (transformation-toughened zirconia).

Sharpening And General Care

A diamond dust sharpener with cradle for a ceramic knife.

Unlike a traditional steel blade that benefits from regular honing and resharpening in order to keep a sharp edge, a ceramic knife will stay sharp and retain its cutting edge for much longer—up to 10x longer according to some tests. The inherent hardness of the ceramic material also makes it more difficult for the consumer to resharpen. Although a ceramic knife therefore does not need regular sharpening in the same way as steel, its blade edge will eventually degrade or chip and lose its cutting edge, at which point specialized sharpening services are required for the ceramic edge.

Material Structure

Three phases are known: monoclinic below 1170 °C, tetragonal between 1170 °C and 2370 °C, and cubic above 2370 °C. The trend is for higher symmetry at higher temperatures, as is usually the case. A small percentage of the oxides of calcium or yttrium stabilize in the cubic phase. The very rare mineral tazheranite (Zr,Ti,Ca)O2 is cubic. Unlike TiO2, which features six-coordinate Ti in all phases, monoclinic zirconia consists of seven-coordinate zirconium centres. This difference is attributed to the larger size of Zr atom relative to the Ti atom.