I have the 2 piece 2mm ceramic seals and the are quite nice. Talked with Iannetti and he recommended them since I would not be running high boost (20+ in his mind). I was told they would seal nicely and help with quicker reving. I have a mild street port with a t-78 and man everything runs great! Only downfall is that I shelled out 2000 for the seals alone from pettit during the build of my new engine. But well worth it considering I should be able to use them if i needed to rebuild my engine.. (of course if they don't break.. hahah)

-Hung

 

Hi Rice,
It sounds very much like the seals you're talking about were made from
"carbide" based materials, which are different than the ceramics used in high-
quality apex seals. Carbides (tungsten, titanium, chromium, etc) are typically
not monolithic materials, but are usually available as powders or granules. A
binder is used to "cement" the powders together (typically cobalt), and this
composite material is diamond ground to a finished shape.

Carbides are typically quite heavy (as Mr. Double found), and can "soften" if
the critical temp of the binder is reached. Ceramics like aluminum oxide or
silicon nitride are made by having the base materials "absorb" oxygen or nitrogen
(as apposed carbon) during the firing that creates them. These base materials
can be molded or cast into complex shapes prior to firing, and even machined first
(ages ago I made experimental spark plugs by machining "green" aluminum oxide
forms to make insulators, which were later fired for final properties).

Al2O3 and Si3N4 are significantly lighter than steel, and have the ability
to be polished to a very fine finish. This, as well as inherent material
properties allows for a very low tribological reaction when rubbing a surface
like a chrome plated rotor housing. I don't know for sure what material Iannetti
uses, but it's likely one of these or a slight variant.

I hope this is of some use, and a small payback for the info I've gotten from your posts...

David Breslau
Widefoot Racing Co.

(not a materials scientist, but I worked with 'em at MIT)

 

Thanks David, that is some excellent info you have provided

 

Wow... you sound like a damn scientist.. and you attended MIT.. thats an amazing feat in itself.. NERD.. .just picking.. wish i had have the will and smarts to attempt to even get in there... But i'm a bum...

 

Heh - I plead guilty to being a (car/science/manufacturing) nerd, but I
want to make it clear that I worked at MIT as a technician and instructor
(still teach part time), but did not go there as a student. It was a lot
of fun to work there (got to build most of a small satellite that's going
strong and getting good data), but can be tough for the kids coming in.

David Breslau
Widefoot Racing Co.

(If being a nerd is wrong, I don't wanna be right...)

 

Wow even better.. you taught there... and even aided in projects.. thats awesome.. I wish i could do anything remotely the same.. but no enough knowledge and creativity. Nothing wrong with being a nerd at all.. I wish i was of that caliber.

 

WE NEED TO get our hands on lennetti seal and send it to get anilized. to find out the properties.

 

wanted broken ceramic seal

 

here is a quote from mazdarotaryclub.com


The Ianetti seals are available from Mazda Competition parts dept in the States.
There are all sorts of variations available,
eg 2 mm,3mm,and either 1 piece or 2 piece.
I talked to Mr Ianetti the other day and he said that they could make them in 4mm or 5/6mm too.
The price for these seals is minimum of just over £1000.
What is their value you may ask?
2mm will handle about18 to 20 psi boost but can still break with very bad detonation. you must have an after market ECU to be able to prevent high boost engines from detonating.
3mm are able to handle up to 23psi boost and could still break with excessive detonation.
mr Ianetti said that if you had 5 or 6 mm seals then they would be just about indistructable.
Any of these seals in my opinion would be the best for a high boost engine because they have other good characteristics.
eg they are very light( as light as carbon seals) which could mean that if you do the other necessary mods to an engine then more revs are available,low wear on rotor housings.they are reuseable on rebuilds,the seals do not wear out to quick.And the tolerances
can be closer due to low thermal expansion.
hope that this is helpful
Carl

Can the rotor housings be opened up to 5-6mm like you do to make 3mm fit. If so this will be my next re-build.

 

there is a partial set of Ianetti Ceramics on Ebay.

Justin

 

this thread is 3 years old. NRS makes the best ceramics. Hard to believe but it's actually having your cake and eating it too.
John

 

Can the rotor housings be opened up to 5-6mm like you do to make 3mm fit. If so this will be my next re-build.[/QUOTE]


not housing, rotors , and yes

 

lol the sealing at 5 or 6mm would be absolute ****.

 

my Ianetti's are serving me well

 

I Guess No1 On The Forum Know What Exacly Type(s) Of Ceramic Hey R Made Of Exept Glassman

 

Well, when Mazda went from 6mm to 3mm seals in the '60s their race engines only gained what was it... 5% peak power.

So, it may be a good compromise for some boosted engines...

 

it's been proven that going 3mm seals over the 2mm seals loses about 5% power so I would emagine that going from 2mm to 6mm would be a huge power loss.

 

I can't believe forum members have put up with 256 posts of this. Did you graduate high school?

 

lol, never really understude why people use slange on forums. We are on computers typing about cars witch means that we are at least part nerd. Why put up a front?

 

I second this motion

 

this tread needs to stay alive!!!!!!!

 

I third the motion!!!!