(6 May 2013, 23:01)BDG Wrote: (6 May 2013, 22:32)Timelord Wrote: I would presume a ceramic knife was inherently not made of any metal. That would rule out any alloys. I stand to be corrected if anyone has knowledge on this.
A lot of them are made of zirconium dioxide. Zirconium is a metal.
Thankyou for that. I learn something new. It seems the Zirconium Dioxide compound is combined with the ceramic surface as a composite material. The quote from Wikipedia is most enlightening:-
"Ceramic knives will not corrode in harsh environments, are non-magnetic, and do not conduct electricity. Because of their resistance to strong acid and caustic substances, and their ability to retain a cutting edge longer than forged metal knives, ceramic knives are a much more suitable culinary tool for slicing boneless meat, vegetables, fruit and bread. Since they are brittle they may break if dropped on a hard surface, and cannot be used for chopping through bones, or frozen foods, or in other applications which require prying, which may result in chipping or catastrophic failure. Several brands now offer a black colored blade made through an additional hot isostatic pressing (HIP) step, which improves the toughness.
Ceramic knives may present a security problem as ceramics are not seen by conventional metal detectors. To hinder misuse of concealed knives many manufacturers include some metal to ensure that they are seen by standard equipment. Ceramic knives may be detected by extremely high frequency scanners (e.g. millimeter wave scanners) and X-ray backscatter scanners"
Ta, TL
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