Capabilities

As global leaders in the infrared heating components industry, Ceramicx has the full in-house capability to give you a complete end to end service, from R&D and CAD/CAM design to full product testing, manufacturing, and systems building.

By keeping the entire infrared process under one roof, we’re able to give you an end product which we know intimately, has full traceability, and that we have full responsibility for.

Ceramicx Infrared Heating Solutions

For specialist applications and materials testing, we build industrial infrared ovens to almost any design and specification. Drawing on our vast knowledge, expertise, and experience in application engineering and heatwork development, our ovens are custom-built to precise customer needs using short, medium, or longwave heating elements.

The wavelength choice for any custom-designed oven or heating system is entirely dependant on the process, but the installed power is always specified to the Ceramicx in-house rule of ‘As much as necessary, as little as possible’. For more information on custom industrial ovens and heating systems, as well as retrofits, rebuilds, and upgrades, please see Industrial Solutions.

Machinery

As we’ve grown, our manufacturing capabilities have grown with us. Alongside significant investment into our Research and Development lab, we’re continually adding to our plant list with key machinery including:

• Safan Darley Guillotine
• Safan Darley Press brake
• Trumpf TruPunch 1000
• CNC turning and milling
• Grinding
• Excetek Wire EDM

Our goal has always been to be as self-sustainable as possible in every part of the production process. And by managing every aspect in-house, we can ensure the highest quality in each of our own parts while reducing lead times for our customers.

Supporting Local Industry

In addition to being a global exporter, Ceramicx has the capacity to supply engineering products and services to local businesses. Whether you require precision machining, prototyping, or small-to-medium batch production, our team is available to help.

We maintain extensive stocks of sheet metals, profile steel, and other engineering materials, enabling us to provide fast turnaround times and reliable service.

Working with us, you will benefit from high-quality equipment, experienced operators, and efficient turnaround times — all delivered locally.

If you’re based locally and have a project or unique idea in mind, we’d be delighted to discuss how our facilities can support you.

Product testing

Every ceramic and quartz medium wave element manufactured by us undergoes rigorous end of line testing prior to customer shipping. With an automated test line, elements between multiple test stations go through electrical and thermal tests to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety.

Each element is first subjected to a dielectric strength safety test, followed by a measurement of electrical resistance. The resistance test ensures each element generates the correct power output when the rated voltage is applied. Following this, elements are load tested and the thermal response is measured using an infrared thermal imaging camera.

Measurement data is recorded and compared to fixed parameters to ensure quality and consistency. Each element that passes test protocol is marked with the required data and allocated a unique serial number. This number, along with all measurement data and test results, is stored in a searchable Birth Certificate database which has 100% traceability on all tested parts.

New and non-standard product development

Ceramicx manufactures a range of industry-standard ceramic, quartz and quartz tungsten/quartz halogen elements. However some process heat applications may require the use of elements outside the standard range.

Thanks to our comprehensive in-house capabilities, including our pressure casting production, we’re able to design, develop, and manufacture precise custom production moulds and tooling. This gives you an even wider range of choice, where we can fabricate them to suit almost any application and operating environment. Recently we developed and began manufacturing low voltage DC infrared ceramic heating elements for LED headlight de-icing for an automotive enquiry.

Materials testing

We offer Ceramicx’ Portable Test Stand as a quick and easy setup for testing material. Ideal for on-site customer or factory visits, it helps quickly identify the most suitable emitter type and optimal heating distance for any material — delivering consistent, reliable results.

Customer request testing

Customers are able to request testing of a sample piece of material to determine its ability to receive and convert thermal radiation into heat. The tests will indicate:

• The optimum type of emitter – short, medium, or longwave
• The ideal emitter to material distance
• The material effectiveness at conducting/transmitting radiation based on the thermal gradient across its thickness.

This information is fundamental when designing a heating platen/oven for a specific material.

Testing to compare or quantify like-for-like performance. See our White Papers for more information.

Often, a reference material will be used when comparing the performance of an emitter. For example, if a slight change has been made to our own standard elements with the intention of improving its performance, we use them to heat the reference material, and compare the results to determine if the performance has improved.

While numerous other tests are conducted to confirm this, the ability of an emitter to effectively heat material is a good indication of its overall performance. Reference materials are also used when comparing Ceramicx emitters with competitor variants.

Dust Press

Developing our own dust press capacity as part of our full manufacturing integration policy has allowed us to produce accessories and additional component parts in-house. We’re now able to manufacture specialist Steatite ceramic dust press components, such as beads and connector blocks for high-temperature infrared heating applications, on our Dorst 6-Ton, 15-Ton, and 30-Ton machines.

With excellent mechanical strength, good dielectric properties, and a high-temperature resistivity of up to 1000°C, Steatite ceramic dust has proven itself to be the material of choice for the manufacture of electrical insulators. Most commonly used in applications where a high-temperature electrical insulator is required, it operates well in cold switching applications and is also an excellent high voltage insulator.