The FUJI ALCONITE Guide ring is NOT Zirconium. It is a high-grade aluminum oxide (alumina) ceramic.
Zirconium is on many Batson ForeCast Line Guides, and on some other brands as well.
American Tackle's TITAN Guides are solid TITANIUM Frames and NANOLITE Rings. NanoLite Rings are also a high-grade aluminum oxide (alumina) ceramic. AmTac does NOT make an SIC ring guide, in any frame at all. Period.
In FUJI-ese, the term CONCEPT refers to several STYLES of guide frames. The frame metal may be titanium or stainless steel. The ring may be Silicon Carbide (SIC) or it may be Alconite. Usually the combination is Ti-SiC or Alc-SS. ... I'm not writing another primer on "A Guide to Guides", so that's all I'll say.
ANY ceramic guide ring material is significantly harder than whatever you are going to have running thru the line guides (including small swivels). Superbraid lines, even loaded with Mississippi mud, won't groove an aluminum oxide ring.
[Monel wire probably handles better on rollers; or the silicon nitride (SiN) or Silicon Carbide (SiC) ring guides. But the old Carbaloy metal rings are still popular for Monel wire among commercial fisherman.]
The hardest ceramic guide ring is the SIC, hands down (VH ~ 2200). I have not seen Vickers Hardness for SiN. The aluminas are all of similar strength (VH ~ 1800 --> 1300): NL ~ Alc ~ Hardloy.
The choice of frame metal and ring material all depends on your intended level of use (or abuse), ... and how much over-kill you want to pay for, ... IMO, ... -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****
Titanium vs. stainless framed SIC guides
John Richardson ... March 8, 2006 10:48PM
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Re: Alconite - Is it zirconium or premium aluminum oxide?
Cliff Hall 03-08-06 ... 13:44
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www.rodbuilding.org]
VICKER'S HARDNESS SCALE Values
for Line Guide Ring Materials 2005
Stainless Steel (SS): 400 [B.E.]
Chrome: 800-1000 [C.M.]
Carbaloy: 1000 [B.E.]
Aluminum Oxide: 1200-1400 [B.E., C.M.]
Alconite (Fuji): 1300-1500 [Fuji]
NanoLite (Titan): 1800 [J.M.]
Zirconia: 1000-1400 [M.G.]
Zirconia PVD: 1600 [B.E.]
SiC: 2200-2400 [B.E., C.M.]
ALL of these materials are SUFFICIENTLY HARD to make good guide rings.
ALL of the CERAMICS (Aluminum Oxide, Hardloy, Hialoy, Alconite, NanoLite, Zirconia, Silicon Nitride-SiN and Silicon Carbide-SiC) are HARDER than any metals (SS, Steel Files, Chrome) and HARDER than any SILICA (sand) or QUARTZ. Therefore, ANY of the CERAMICS make GREAT RING GUIDES.
However Silicon Carbide is indisputably the hardest among those listed above.
REFERENCES:
[B.E.] = BATSON ENTERPRISES ForeCast Components 2005 Catalog, page 2.
[C.M.] = Corrosion Management (May 2003), pp. 16-22.
[J.M.] = Joe Meehan, American Tackle – on RBO Forum –
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www.rodbuilding.org]
[M.G.] = Mark Gibson, Material Sci./Eng. – on RBO Forum
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www.rodbuilding.org]
