Just got a set of Fuji's silicone nitrate II guides in ?
Has a similar color of the fuji hardloy rings ?

What's the difference ?
Thanks Did I get hyped ?

That glossy grey-ish color looks similar to the matte purpleish lavender color of Hardaloy's? THere is no similarities in teh color of the rings between the two, and teh stainless used in teh frame is different between the two.

What about compared to SIC rings ?

Bill,

It depends a little on the type, but Silicon Nitride (SiN) is harder than both Aluminum Oxide and Zirconia, but not quite as hard as Silicon Carbide (SiC). SiN however is both stronger and tougher than SiC, which makes it a good ring material for a guide that is going to see a lot of physical abuse.

Hope that helps,

markG

Sounds like it is better then SIC ? If so how come they don't make more of them and in more configurations ? Price of the material ?

Some of the Zerconium guides are coated in a vacuum chamber with a thin coating of silcon nitride. Unless I am mistaken it is the blue ones.

If you've seen SIC that's a glossier black-ish-er ring color, whereas SIN is a charcoal-ish grey-ish color. Same steel is used on Alco, SIC & SIN.

Bill,

You're asking some good questions. Silicon Carbide is much easier to make and therefore it does tend to be less expensive. I may not have stated it well when I said that SiN isn't quite as hard as SiC. The hardness of SiN actually falls more in between that of Alumina/ Zirconia and the SiC. So the SiC is a good bit harder. SiC also has a significantly higher thermal conductivity, which reduces localized heating and friction. So SiC makes an exceptionally hard ring, which performs quite well under most conditions. When it fractures though, there's not much doubt that it's broken because you'll see the crack.

There is one other rub with the SiN and that is some forms can be sensitive to degradation under high humidity conditions. Hopefully this isn't an issue with the Fuij materials.

mark

Now I'm confused ? The SiN guides are said to be good for wire lines, but if the SIC is harder, would that not be better for wire ?? Or is it too brittle and does not take well to heavy use? So the zerconia guide material can be used with wire, since it is similar to SiN ???

Or maybe I should not even worry about it.

Hi Bill, Sorry if I added to the confusion. Basically you're looking at trade offs in physical properties, price and performance.

The hardness of the ring is only one of the key factors, and you may need a stronger and tougher ring material than SiC when it comes to wire line. The SiN is hard enough, as well as stronger and tougher than SiC, so it’s probably the better choice in a more abusive application. You might pay a little more for it too, but bottom line is you're less likely to break a SiN ring.

SiCs are strong enough for less abusive applications, bass casting and spinning for example….(not to say that you’ll never crack one). But when you remove that problem with the wire line, you can take advantage of the other properties of SiC.....higher hardness, less friction, etc.

A high quality Zirconium Oxide might actually stand up reasonably well to a wire line. Like SiN, the Zircs tend to have high strength and toughness. BUT, Zirconia doesn’t have quite the hardness of SiN, which would still make the Nitride the better choice between the two.

markG

Interesting stuff. Thanks for the info Mark. Seems the more stuff companies make the more confusing it gets. Then throw in a little hype ??

At least here ya can weed the products out.