Kyocera’s Ceramic Bearings for Magnetic Mixers Revolutionize Pharmaceutical Production, Large-Scale Food Processing

San Diego, Calif., U.S.A. — April 20, 2021 — Kyocera International, Inc. today announced U.S. availability of its new line of ceramic plain bearings for use in magnetically coupled industrial mixers. As a world leader in Fine Ceramics, Kyocera maintains full “chain of custody” over its entire ceramics manufacturing process, ensuring reliable traceability of all materials — a key factor in pharmaceutical production and large-scale food processing. Kyocera’s high-precision machining gives these bearings extremely smooth surface finishes to minimize operating friction and reduce breakage risk in dry-run conditions.

Magnetic Mixer Mechanics

The key components of a magnetic mixer include ceramic sliding bearings that make direct contact with the mixed product. Frictional wear, temperature changes, and corrosive attack by cleaning agents determine the material selection for these highly stressed components. Typically, the pin bearing is made of zirconium oxide, and the ring bearing is silicon carbide. The static, robust pin bearing is firmly connected to the agitation tank, and the rotating ring bearing is integrated and sealed with the mixing head. The zirconium oxide pin bearing offers high resistance to impact, including sudden rotor settling or shock during mixer assembly/disassembly; the silicon carbide ring bearing provides superior abrasion resistance and high surface smoothness.

Usage

Pharmaceuticals manufacturing and the food-processing industry both require potentially corrosive powders and liquids to be mixed in an aseptic environment. Consequently, all mechanical mixing components and equipment must be sterilized and sealed from contamination. This equipment generally employs magnetic agitators, which transmit torque through a magnetic field and thus eliminate any mechanical connection between the motor and agitator. With no mechanical seals (such as a slide ring or stuffing-box packing) between the external motor and internal agitator, magnetic mixers can greatly minimize the risk of contamination in the final product.

The extreme hardness of Kyocera’s ceramics also helps maximize bearing lifetime while minimizing risk of particle shedding. Due to the sterility and chemical inertness of the ceramic materials, the mixing tank remains optimally clean. Ceramic bearings also require no lubrication, and their resistance to temperature variation allows the use of cleaning- and sterilization-in-place (CIP/SIP) processes.

Our materials employed in Kyocera’s bearings are selected to promote compliance with applicable FDA requirements and USP Class VI classifications.

Kyocera’s ceramic bearings are custom-engineered for each application. To discuss your specific performance goals and engineering challenges, please email fcsales@kyocera.com.

About Kyocera

San Diego-based Kyocera International, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kyocera Corporation.

Kyocera Corporation (TOKYO: 6971, https://global.kyocera.com/), the parent and global headquarters of the Kyocera Group, was founded in 1959 as a producer of fine ceramics (also known as “advanced ceramics”). By combining these engineered materials with metals and integrating them with other technologies, Kyocera has become a leading supplier of industrial and automotive components, semiconductor packages, electronic devices, smart energy systems, printers, copiers, and mobile phones. During the year ended March 31, 2020, the company’s consolidated sales revenue totaled 1.6 trillion yen (approx. US$14.7 billion). Kyocera is ranked #549 on Forbes magazine’s 2020 “Global 2000” list of the world’s largest publicly traded companies.