Metals are ductile, malleable, electrically conductive and thermally conductive. All of these properties come from the way metallic atoms bond together. Metals are used for structures, electrical wires, locks, coins, and many more items. Metals can easily be bent, machined, cast or extruded into shape. The widespread use of Metals is in large part due to this ease of manufacturing.
Ceramics are brittle, strong and non-conducting materials.
Ceramics are typically compounds consisting of metals covalently bonded to oxygen, nitrogen or carbon. Ceramics are used for high temperature applications, abrasives, transparent windows and pottery. Ceramic pieces are generally made through extrusion, slip casting, or compression molding. A polymer may have one type of repeating unit of many different types of repeating units. Polymers are usually carbon based.