Saint-Gobain places its products and materials at the service of many industries with the aim of improving their added value and high-technology content.
Ceramic Materials
Saint-Gobain technical ceramics can be used to line metal or glass-making furnaces. From the glazed façades of the world’s tallest towers to the special glass for flat screens, these glass products are manufactured in furnaces lined with Saint-Gobain SEFPRO’s particularly sophisticated ceramic refractory components.
For the industrial segment, Saint-Gobain ZirPro manufactures ceramic beads used to grind calcium carbonate for paper coating or to give consumer electronics, such as smartphones, a satin finish. Refractory Zirconia offered by Ceramic Zhengzhou is being used widely as the raw material of Nozzle for steel continuous casting process. Long lift time of the Nozzle makes sure the high efficiency of steel continuous casting process, which is also driving the better costing position to our end users. It’s a superior insulation material for sapphire ingot growth process. Besides, Alundum and Alumina-Zirconia grains offered by Ceramic Zhengzhou could be used as raw material in abrasive tools (Ex: abrasive wheels or belts). The mechanical property of Alundum and Alumina-Zirconia is much better than commodity grains, and therefore makes sure high lifetime and excellent stock removal capability of abrasive tools. Ti can also be used as blasting medium to treat metal/alloy and other materials surface, and additive in wear-resistant metal parts.
For the security segment, Saint-Gobain Ceramic Materials manufactures Hexoloy® ceramic sheets designed using sintered silicon carbide. Used for bullet-proof vests and land vehicle and aircraft armor, they have exceptionally high wear and impact resistance.
For the energy segment, Saint-Gobain designs innovative products and technical solutions for the oil and gas industry. Saint-Gobain NorPro also develops high-technology ceramic solutions for the energy market, including ceramic proppants to improve the extraction yield from oil and gas fields; catalytic supports designed to speed up chemical reactions; and catalyst bed supports, that is a layer of ceramic beads used to maintain the catalyst media in place in a reactor.
Abrasives
Saint-Gobain Abrasives has a comprehensive portfolio of solutions for all abrasion processes. Its abrasives are used in heavy industry, such as steelworks and paper mills, manufacturing industries, and high-tech segments, such as the automotive, aerospace and electronics industries. Often manufactured to specification for industrial customers, Saint-Gobain Abrasives wheels for grinding, surface finishing and even cutting steel parts, provide high operation speeds and exceptional productivity.
Performance Plastics
Polymer-based products are used in a variety of applications. The electronics industry, for example, has recently shown considerable growth. Saint-Gobain manufactures plastic films for LCD flat screens and foams for assembling mobile phones, always with an eye to creating lighter and smaller devices that are better for the environment. Besides, products from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics are also used in other electronics, food processing, chemical process, molding process, energy exploration, environmental monitoring, textiles & screen printing and pumps& valves.