The most easily recognizable ceramic insulators can be found at power substations and on electrical transformers suspended from utility poles. They are called bushings and are usually designed with several conic or circular tiers stacked on top of each other. Read More…

Leading Manufacturers
LSP Industrial Ceramics, Inc.
Myrtle Beach, SC | 609-397-8330, 609-397-8341As a manufacturer and stocking distributor of industrial and technical ceramics, LSP carries the most diversified inventory of ceramic tubes, spacers, bushings, etc. in the industry.

C-Mac International, LLC
Pittsburgh, PA | 412-406-7171C-Mac International, LLC is a custom ceramics supplier. We provide advanced ceramic component parts manufacturing for a variety of industries and provide solutions to many ceramic needs.

Insaco Inc.
Quakertown, PA | 215-536-3500Insaco provides custom grinding and machining services to fabricate precision parts from sapphire, quartz, and most technical ceramics including alumina, zirconia, silicon carbide, silicon nitride, aluminum nitride, and others.

Applied Ceramics
Fremont, CA | 510-249-9700Applied Ceramics is a fabricator of custom-made ceramic parts designed for semiconductor, solar, fuel cell, oil drilling, nuclear, and numerous other industries. Materials include ACI-995 Alumina, Zirconia, and more. Our extensive experience with precision designs supported by our team of specialists ensures that our customers have the ideal solution to meet the needs of their application. To get started, contact us today!

Advanced Ceramics & Crucible
Phelan, CA | 760-680-9567Advanced Ceramics & Crucible is a manufacturer of high-quality ceramic products. For over 15 years we have been a leading manufacturer of the ceramic industry.

Maryland Ceramic & Steatite Company, Inc.
Street, MD | 410-838-4114Maryland Ceramic has unique capabilities in extruding, pressing & machining ceramic materials – superior grade steatite, corderite & custom lava ceramics, offering many advantages for quality assured industrial, electrical, electronic & technical components delivered fast. Meeting your specific needs no matter how large, small or unusual & saving you money on even complex tool & die. Since 1926.

These tiers are designed to keep water as far away from the center of the bushing as possible; this reduces the number of avenues by which electricity could be conducted in the case of a bushing puncture or fracture.
In the context of thermal insulation, ceramic insulators are used to help maintain the temperatures of industrial ovens, art studio kilns and many other kinds of heat-generating equipment. This improves heating process efficiency while simultaneously preventing the unwanted transmission of heat, often in unsafe degrees, into workspaces.
Ceramics are often good choices for heat and electrical insulation because of the electrical and thermal non-conductivity of some ceramic varieties.
Ceramics are versatile materials and can be shaped into solid insulation of any shape. Ceramic fibers can also be spun into high temperature insulation "wool." Ceramic wool is an excellent insulator because it is easily placed around heating enclosures and prevents heat from escaping. Ceramics vary in their electrical and thermal conductivity.
Aluminum nitride and silicon carbide, for example, conduct heat well, which does not make them suitable thermal insulators. If either material was used to insulate a heating enclosure, heat generated in the enclosure would be transferred quickly to the insulation and then transferred again to the area outside of the enclosure.
Aluminum oxide ceramics are fair thermal insulators and are most effectively employed in low-heat insulation applications. Silicon nitride is better still as an insulator and zirconia is among the most effective ceramic insulators, transmitting very low levels of heat between itself and heating enclosures.
Another important property of ceramics related to their capacity as insulators is their low thermal shock susceptibility. Thermal shock susceptibility is the tendency of a material to become damaged when exposed to frequently or quickly changing temperatures. Most ceramics are very thermal shock-resistant.