Company Information

Starting in 1968, the development of a piezoelectrically driven artificial heart placed challenging demands on available ferroelectric materials and actuator fabrication methods and precipitated the start of pioneering developments in these areas by the parent company of Kinetic Ceramics, Physics International. In the 1970s we developed the first piezoelectric diesel fuel injection systems.

These technologies had great need for high reliability as well as high power density and continued to drive our piezoelectric actuator technology forward. This proprietary technology was patented and registered as the Piezomotor® in 1985.

In 1986 the Kinetic Ceramics name was born when the piezoelectric business unit split from the parent company. Since that time, Kinetic Ceramics has developed many piezoelectric diesel, injection systems as well as gasoline direct injection systems and valve actuation systems for camless engines.

Concurrently with the internal combustion engine work, a strong business grew in supplying Piezomotor® actuators, translation devices and turnkey piezoelectric systems to industry in general.

An example is the revolution that was enabled in contact lens manufacturing with the introduction of the Kinetic Ceramics Fast Tool Servo in 1998. This turnkey bolt on lathe axis enables direct machining of toric lenses at spindle speeds up to 6,000 RPM which was heretofore impossible.