Ceramic materials

Ceramic materials are inorganic, non-metallic materials made from compounds of a metal and a non metal. Ceramic materials may be crystalline or partly crystalline. They are formed by the action of heat and subsequent cooling.Clay was one of the earliest materials used to produce ceramics, as pottery, but many different ceramic materials are now used in domestic, industrial and building products. Ceramic materials tend to be strong, stiff, brittle, chemically inert, and non-conductors of heat and electricity, but their properties vary widely. For example, porcelain is widely used to make electrical insulators, but some ceramic compounds are superconductors.

Types of ceramic materials

A ceramic material may be defined as any inorganic crystalline material, compounded of a metal and a non-metal. It is solid and inert. Ceramic materials are brittle, hard, strong in compression, weak in shearing and tension. They withstand chemical erosion that occurs in an acidic or caustic environment. In many cases withstanding erosion from the acid and bases applied to it. Ceramics generally can withstand very high temperatures such as temperatures that range from 1,000 °C to 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F). Exceptions include inorganic materials that do not have oxygen such as silicon carbide. Glass by definition is not a ceramic because it is an amorphous solid (non-crystalline). However, glass involves several steps of the ceramic process and its mechanical properties behave similarly to ceramic materials.