Structure Of Ceramic Materials

Ceramics generally start with a clay based material dug from the ground that s mixed with water to make it soft and flexible and other materials squashed into shape then fired at high temperature in a large industrial oven called a kiln.

Structure of ceramic materials.

Compare to other materials ceramics have some unique properties. In ceramics the negatively charged ions anions are often significantly different in size from the positively charged ions cations. Usually they are metal oxides that is compounds of metallic elements and oxygen but many ceramics especially advanced ceramics are compounds of metallic elements and carbon nitrogen or sulfur. Concise encyclopedia of advanced ceramic materials 1991.

Their physical properties are an expression not only of their composition but primarily of their structure. According to this definition elemental carbon is a ceramic. The bonding of atoms together is much stronger in covalent and ionic bonding than in metallic. Ceramics can appear as either crystalline or amorphous solids the latter group being called glasses.

Sometimes even monocrystalline materials such as diamond and sapphire are erroneously included under the term ceramics. Graphene is currently considered the strongest known material. A common definition of a ceramic is a hard material that is held together with ionic and covalent bonds. Polycrystalline materials are formed by multiple crystal grains joined together during the production process whereas monocrystalline materials are grown as one three dimensional crystal.

Thus in order to fully understand the properties of ceramics a knowledge of their structure is essential. As its name suggests traditional ceramics are not supposed to meet rigid specific properties after their production so cheap technologies are utilized for most of the production processes. Ceramics are oxides carbides nitrides borides of metal ions. Ceramics play an important role in our day to day life.

All ceramic materials are prepared by ceramic technology and powder substances are used as the initial raw materials. Generally they are inorganic and non metallic. The properties of ceramics however also depend on their microstructure. Ceramics are by definition natural or synthetic inorganic non metallic polycrystalline materials.

This is called a compound. Most ceramics are made up of two or more elements. Structural ceramics are typically manufactured by a variety of techniques including injection molding uniaxial hot pressing compression molding slip casting and sintering. Ceramics are compounds of metallic elements and non metallic substances such as oxides nitrides and silicates.

Additionally carbon based materials such as carbon fiber carbon nanotubes and graphene can be considered ceramics. Development of ceramics helps to decrease the demand in industries. Ceramic materials like clay are categorized as traditional ceramics and normally they are made of clay silica and feldspar.