A Cermet is a composite material composed of ceramic (cer) and metallic (met) materials. The metal is used as a binder for an oxide, boride, carbide, or alumina. Generally, the metallic elements used are nickel, molybdenum, and cobalt. Depending on the physical structure of the material, cermets can also be metal matrix composites, but cermets are usually less than 20% metal by volume.
It is used in the manufacture of resistors (especially potentiometers), capacitors, and other electronic components which may experience high temperatures.
A Cermet is ideally designed to have the optimal properties of both a ceramic, such as high temperature resistance and hardness, and those of a metal, such as the ability to undergo plastic deformation.
Cermets are also used in dentistry as a material for fillings and prostheses.
Cermet coatings, molecular mixtures of metal and ceramic, are being considered for the heat inlet surface of solar Stirling convertors.
Cermet coatings are manufactured utilizing sputter deposition, and many different metal and ceramic combinations can be created.
The cermet coatings are typically 250 nm thick, and they are purposely made to be metal rich at the substrate-coating interface and ceramic rich at the surface, with the composition of metal and ceramic changing through the thickness of the coating.
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