Ceramics

A ceramic has traditionally been defined as “an inorganic, nonmetallic solid that is prepared from powdered materials, is fabricated into products through the application of heat, and displays such characteristic properties as hardness, strength, low electrical conductivity, and brittleness." The word ceramic comes the from Greek word "keramikos", which means "pottery." They are typically crystalline in nature and are compounds formed between metallic and nonmetallic elements such as aluminum and oxygen (alumina-Al₂O₃), calcium and oxygen (calcia - CaO), and silicon and nitrogen (silicon nitride-Si₃N₄).

Depending on their method of formation, ceramics can be dense or lightweight. Typically, they will demonstrate excellent strength and hardness properties; however, they are often brittle in nature. Ceramics can also be formed to serve as electrically conductive materials or insulators. Some ceramics, like superconductors, also display magnetic properties. They are also more resistant to high temperatures and harsh environments than metals and polymers. Due to ceramic materials wide range of properties, they are used for a multitude of applications.

The broad categories or segments that make up the ceramic industry can be classified as:

• Structural clay products (brick, sewer pipe, roofing and wall tile, flue linings, etc.)
• Whitewares (dinnerware, floor and wall tile, electrical porcelain, etc.)
• Refractories (brick and monolithic products used in metal, glass, cements, ceramics, energy conversion, petroleum, and chemicals industries)
• Glasses (flat glass (windows), container glass (bottles), pressed and blown glass (dinnerware), glass fibers (home insulation), and advanced/specialty glass (optical fibers))
• Abrasives (natural (garnet, diamond, etc.) and synthetic (silicon carbide, diamond, fused alumina, etc.) abrasives are used for grinding, cutting, polishing, lapping, or pressure blasting of materials)
• Cements (for roads, bridges, buildings, dams, and etc.)
• Advanced ceramics
  • Structural (wear parts, bioceramics, cutting tools, and engine components)
  • Electrical (capacitors, insulators, substrates, integrated circuit packages, piezoelectrics, magnets and superconductors)
  • Coatings (engine components, cutting tools, and industrial wear parts)
  • Chemical and environmental (filters, membranes, catalysts, and catalyst supports)

The atoms in ceramic materials are held together by a chemical bond which will be discussed a bit later. Briefly though, the two most common chemical bonds for ceramic materials are covalent and ionic. Covalent and ionic bonds are much stronger than in metallic bonds and, generally speaking, this is why ceramics are brittle and metals are ductile.