7.3 Cost-Effectiveness
7.3.1 Component Costs in Principle
Manufacturing costs for a part made of technical
ceramic are comprised of the following:
- material costs,
- forming costs,
- finishing costs,
- firing costs,
- test costs and
- other miscellaneous costs.
The material costs are dependent on the
material used, and in most cases are comparatively low. Increased
demands on the properties of the ceramic can cause the raw
material price to have a significant influence on the total
costs due to the high purity required and to the well-defined,
reproducible powder properties. This is particularly the case
when manufacturing large parts.
Forming costs are also not insignificant for single parts
or small batch sizes. This is due to the large number of single
steps that must either be carried out manually or that can
only be partially automated.
If hard finishing is necessary, the final finishing costs
are often the dominating factor.
Testing can, under certain circumstances, become a noticeable
fraction of the total cost for parts that are geometrically
complex and highly stressed. These may require many tests
and property certificates.
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