Alumina or aluminum oxide (Al2O3) in its various purity levels is used more often than any other advanced ceramic material. The applications for advanced alumina ceramics are heavy-duty forming tools, substrates and resistor cores in the electronics industry, tiles for wear protection and ballistics, thread guides in textile engineering, seal and regulator discs for valves, heat-sinks for lighting systems, protection tubes in thermal processes or catalyst carriers for the chemicals industry.