Ceramics
Ceramics are a material often used in construction, made from a mixture of minerals, typically silica sand,
with a clay binder and some impurities, and up to 30% water. They are fired at a
higher temperature than bricks, so that the silica re-crystallises to form a glassy material that has
greater density, strength, hardness, resistance to chemicals and frost and a greater dimensional stability.
During firing, the water is driven off, though this may be reduced from 30% to 2-5% by drying before
firing. At this reduced water content products are moulded as powder before being fired at 1,800-2,000
degrees for days or weeks at a time, depending on the ceramic and process details. Ceramics may have an
as-fired appearance or be glazed (a glass-like coating).
These materials are environmentally stable - they will not oxidise further in the atmosphere, therefore,
they are economical in terms of maintenance costs. Kmm, Unlike metals, ceramics are not capable of
ductile behaviour. They fail in a brittle manner, directly after their elastic limit.
Classification of ceramics materials
Ceramics can be classified in diverse ways i.e. there are number of ways to classify the ceramic
materials. Most commonly, the ceramics can be classified on the following basis:
- Classification based on composition
- Classification based on applications
Classification based on composition
(i) Silicate ceramics
Silicates are materials generally having composition of silicon and oxygen (figure 2a). Four large
oxygen (o) atoms surround each smaller silicon (Si) atom as shown in. The main types of silicate
ceramics are based either on alumosilicates or on magnesium silicates. Out of these two, the former
include clay-based ceramics such as porcelain, earthenware, stoneware, bricks etc. while the latter
consists of talc-based technical ceramics such as steatite, cordierite and forsterite ceramics. Silicate
ceramics are traditionally categorized into coarse or fine and, according to water absorption, into dense
(< 2 % for fine and < 6 % for coarse) or porous ceramics (> 2% and > 6 %, respectively).
(ii) Oxide ceramics
Oxide ceramics include alumina, zirconia, silica, aluminium silicate, magnesia and other metal oxide
based materials. These are non-metallic and inorganic compounds by nature that include oxygen, carbon,
or nitrogen. Oxide ceramics possess the following properties:
High melting points
Low wear resistance
An extensive collection of electrical properties
These types of ceramics are available with a variety of special features. For example, glazes and
protective coatings seal porosity, improved water or chemical resistance, and enhanced joining to metals
or other materials.
Oxide ceramics are used in a wide range of applications, which include materials and chemical
processing, radio frequency and microwave applications, electrical and high voltage power applications
and foundry and metal processing. Aluminium oxide (Al2O3) is the most important technical oxide
ceramic material. This synthetically manufactured material consists of aluminium oxide ranging from 80
% to more than 99 %.
(iii) Non-Oxide ceramics
The use of non-oxide ceramics has enabled extreme wear and corrosion problems to be overcome, even
at high temperature and severe thermal shock conditions. These types of ceramics find its application in
different spheres such as pharmaceuticals, oil and gas industry, valves, seals, rotating parts, wear plates,
location pins for projection welding, cutting tool tips, abrasive powder blast nozzles, metal forming
tooling etc.
(iv) Glass ceramics
These are basically polycrystalline material manufactured through the controlled crystallization of base
glass. Glass-ceramic materials share many common characteristics with both glasses and ceramics.
Glass-ceramics possess an amorphous phase and more than one crystalline phases. These are produced
by a controlled crystallization procedure. Glass-ceramics holds the processing advantage of glass and has
special characteristics of ceramics. Glass-ceramics yield an array of materials with interesting properties
like zero porosity, fluorescence, high strength, toughness, low or even negative thermal expansion,
opacity, pigmentation, high temperature stability, low dielectric constant, machinability, high chemical
durability, biocompatibility, superconductivity, isolation capabilities and high resistivity. These
properties can be altered by controlling composition and by controlled heat treatment of the base glass
By usage
For convenience, ceramic products are usually divided into four sectors; these are shown below with
some examples:
Structural, including bricks, pipes, floor and roof tiles
Refractories, such as kiln linings, gas fire radiants, steel and glass
making crucibles
Whitewares, including tableware, cookware, wall tiles, pottery products and sanitary ware
Technical, also known as engineering, advanced, special, and fine ceramics. Such items include:
gas burner nozzles
ballistic protection
nuclear fuel uranium oxide pellets
biomedical implants
coatings of jet engine turbine blades
ceramic disk brake
missile nose cones
bearing (mechanical)
tiles used in the Space Shuttle program
Frequently, the raw materials do not include clays.
Classification of technical ceramics
Technical ceramics can also be classified into three distinct material categories:
Oxides: alumina, beryllia, ceria, zirconia
None oxides: carbide, boride, nitride, silicide
Composite materials: particulate reinforced, fiber reinforced, combinations of oxides and
nonoxides.
Each one of these classes can develop unique material properties because ceramics tend to be crystalline .
Comparison of ceramics with metals and polymers
Property Ceramic Metal Polymer
Density Low High Lowest
Hardness Highest Low Lowest
Ductility Low High High
Wear resistance High Low Low
Corrosion resistance High Low Low
Thermal conductivity Mostly low High Low
Electrical conductivity Mostly low High Low
properties
the most important general property of ceramics is that they're refractory: they're rough-and-tumble
materials that will put up with fair amounts of abuse in the most ordinary and extraordinary situations.
Just consider, most of us tile our kitchens and bathrooms because ceramic tiles are hard, waterproof,
largely resistant to scratches, and keep on looking good for year upon year; but engineers also put (very
different!) ceramic tiles on space rockets to protect them against heat when they whiz back to Earth.
If we're summarizing their properties, we can say that ceramics have:
High melting points (so they're heat resistant).
Great hardness and strength.
Considerable durability (they're long-lasting and hard-wearing).
Low electrical and thermal conductivity (they're good insulators).
Chemical inertness (they're unreactive with other chemicals).
Most ceramics are also nonmagnetic materials, although ferrites (iron-based ceramics) happen to make
great magnets (because of their iron content).
Traditional ceramics like glass or porcelain, you'll also have noticed one major drawback: they can be
fragile and brittle, and they'll smash or shatter if you drop them (subject them to "mechanical shock") or
suddenly change their temperature ("thermal shock").
Applications
Pottery products, sanitary ware, floor and roof tiles
Crucibles, kiln linings, other refractories
High end applications such as in ceramic matrix composites, tiles in space shuttle, bullet proof
jackets, disk brakes, ball bearing applications, bio-ceramics