Silicon nitride is a ceramic!
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I’ve used stainless steel ones due to our high humidity and salt air.
It doesn’t actually get rid of the energy as such, rather it isolates the energy, preventing each component’s vibration from affecting any other component; the gain comes from reducing unwanted interactions.
It’s not constrained layer damping as there’s very little loss in the system. Instead, the energy is reflected back to the source; and importantly, as there’s so little potential for storage of energy, the reflection is virtually instant (rather than delayed as it would be if the ball was heavier, such as a larger steel ball). In this way very little of the higher frequency energy is transmitted across the isolater system.
Neither Brass nor silicon nitride will be badly affected.
Brass may become a little dull, and the silicon nitride will be completely unaffected by anything (well pretty much anything short of hydrofluoric acid that is!).
Do you need the fabric infill? Or could you use brass nuts that the silicone balls fit in? This is how I did mine:
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I understand the engineering, I was involved in something similar when I was gainfully employed.
The difference was we had an identified frequency/amplitude problem & a target objective.
This will prove interesting, in a Naim forum kinda way.
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The use of the recessed brass plate is to ensure minimal contact area with the brass and to ensure that contact is only in a purely vertical direction to maximise the reflection of energy and minimise the energy storage capacity of the system.
P.S. The ball bearing is a silicon nitride ceramic not silicone!
Very nice product, looks great.
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Thank you.
Acoustically it seems to be a significant improvement on the gnome duts it replaced as well.
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They say here that all are ceramic. Are there different ceramic?
[
Alumina Ceramics](https://www.honsin-ceramics.com/products-by-material/alumina-ceramics)
Boron Nitride
Zirconia Ceramics
Silicon Carbide
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Hi FR there are many different types of ceramic and many different materials you can use to make them.
Of those you mentioned above, silicon nitride is functionally closest to silicon carbide.
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Ah ok. It’s clearer now. Thanks.
Finite elemente , Franz audio and Stillpoints use ceramic balls inside their isolation devices. They are considered among the best effective.
What type of ceramic do they use?
Stillpoints: I don’t know because they’re very careful not to show pictures of the ceramic balls!
(The older products looked as though they were probably using alumina.)
Finite elemente appear to be using either silicon carbide or silicon nitride (but I can’t be sure)
I don’t seem to be able to find much about Franz audio.
If you find the special saw to cut ceramic, I will do that 
. Good luck 
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With laser?
Thank you, they look as though they’re possibly alumina.