Engineering a New Ceramic for GE's Durathon™ Battery Program
GE needed a cost-effective, domestic solution for battery materials and components. Associated Ceramics engineered a fully dense spinel formulation that delivered the quality GE needed at the right volume and price.
- Client:
- General Electric
- End Product:
- Sodium Metal Halide Battery
- Our Application:
- Sodium Metal Halide Battery
- Issue Addressed:
- No off-the-shelf material met the GE’s requirements
- Material Developed:
- Fully Dense Spinel (Magnesium Aluminate, MgAl₂O₄)
The Challenge
A material that didn't exist yet
GE was building its Durathon™ sodium metal halide battery, a next-generation energy storage platform. The battery plant and finished product required a ceramic material engineered specifically for that application. Nothing off-the-shelf fit the requirement.
Rather than adapt an existing part, GE approached Associated Ceramics to develop a new material outright: a fully dense spinel (magnesium aluminate) formulation suited to the demands of the Durathon battery plant and its finished components.
The Approach
Built alongside GE's own engineers
Associated Ceramics didn't develop the material in isolation. The Associated Ceramics team worked directly alongside GE's engineers throughout the development process — combining their materials science and manufacturing expertise with GE's own knowledge of the Durathon battery system and its performance requirements.
That joint effort produced a fully dense spinel material that met GE's specification, along with the finished ceramic components used in the battery plant and product itself.
Results & Impact
- Program Continuity: Remained GE's qualified supplier for this component for four years
- Performance Metric: Produced a more economical spinel to achieve 99.8% theoretical density with ultra low impurities
- Production Scale: Supplied high purity press-ready spinel powder at the required 2,000 kg/week to 5 facilities worldwide
- Time to Solution: Scaled from concept to full production in 12 months
- Field Reliability: 15 years
- Cost / Efficiency Impact: 50% reduction in component costs
Have a material problem that doesn't have an off-the-shelf answer?
This is the kind of project Associated Ceramics was built for — engineering a new solution alongside your team, not just filling a spec sheet.
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