Praised by its peers, the German company Polycrystal design wins the 2022 Exhibitors’ Grand Prix with a clear lead over its competitors thanks to a remarkable innovation in the field of materials. STS, the defending champion, passed the trophy on to its successor, wishing it the same success that followed its victory in 2021.
Ironically, history will tell us that 20 years after a German company was the first to register at the launch of the EPHJ in 2002, it is another German company that is taking the honors of the day by winning the 2022 Exhibitors’ Grand Prix for an innovation that will make a name for itself with a new high-tech material: Transparent Ceramics.
This is great news for our young company,” says Jens Klimke, CEO of Polycrystal. We already tried our luck last year, but I’m happy to see that our work with transparent ceramics is now recognized by the professionals, it’s a huge encouragement and I thank EPHJ for this great readability.”
Many technological advantages
Technical ceramic and single crystal components are key components of many products in the watch industry, high precision and medical technology. Transparent ceramics are manufactured from high-purity raw materials using a sintering process. In contrast to conventional technical ceramics, the material is 100% compacted, so that no pores remain.
The advantages of this ceramic material technology are numerous: due to its special microstructure, polycrystalline sapphire is harder than single crystal sapphire, no directional dependence of strength as in the case of a single crystal, direct production of formed parts through a new casting process, thus less hard machining required, inexpensive and fast production of prototypes compared to injection molding, environmentally friendly technology by avoiding waste, relatively low sintering temperatures, variety of materials: sapphire, YAG, CZ, spinel, unique variety of colors with scratch-resistant surfaces, thermally stable and pigment-free colored ceramics, transparent or translucent luminescent ceramics.
POLYCRYSTAL design GmbH was founded in 2016 with the support of Fraunhofer Venture. Specializing in transparent and colored oxide ceramics, POLYCRYSTAL has developed new fast, efficient and cost-effective processes for the production of transparent ceramics and offers a unique variety of attractive colored technical ceramics.