Ceramic

Ceramics are a diverse class of materials that are known for their inorganic, non-metallic nature and a wide range of properties, making them essential in various industrial, artistic, and domestic applications. The term "ceramic" is derived from the Greek word "keramikos," meaning "potter's earth" or "burnt stuff," highlighting the historical association of ceramics with pottery and clay-based products.

## Overview

Something that is neither metallic nor organic is called ceramic. It could have a crystalline, glassy, or mixed texture. Heat can be used to create or solidify ceramics, which are normally non-reactive and rigid. Ceramics encompasses much than just dishes and pottery; the most well-known examples are likely clay, bricks, tiles, glass, and cement. Because ceramic materials can be semiconducting, superconducting, ferroelectric, or insulators depending on their composition, they are employed in electronics. Moreover, ceramics are utilized in the production of a wide range of items, including cooktops, race car brakes, fiber optics, artificial joints, spark plugs, micropositioners, chemical sensors, self-lubricating bearings, body armor, and skis.

## Materials

Something that is neither metallic nor organic is called ceramic. It could have a crystalline, glassy, or mixed texture. Heat can be used to create or solidify ceramics, which are normally non-reactive and rigid. Ceramics encompasses much than just dishes and pottery; the most well-known examples are likely clay, bricks, tiles, glass, and cement. Because ceramic materials can be semiconducting, superconducting, ferroelectric, or insulators depending on their composition, they are employed in electronics. Ceramics are also used to make objects as diverse as spark plugs, fiber optics, artificial joints, space shuttle tiles, cooktops, race car brakes, micropositioners, chemical sensors, self lubricating bearings, body armor, and skis.

## Properties

Ceramic properties are influenced by their crystalline structure and chemical composition. Solid-state chemistry reveals the connection between microstructure and properties like density variations, grain size distribution, porosity, and second-phase content. These properties can be correlated with ceramic properties like mechanical strength, hardness, toughness, dielectric constant, and optical properties. Ceramography is the art and science of preparing, examining, and evaluating ceramic microstructures, often on spatial scales similar to nanotechnology, between visible light wavelength and naked eye resolution.

## Processing

Ceramic processing is a process used to create diverse commercial products with varying sizes, shapes, details, complexity, and material composition. It involves the application of heat to processed clays and natural raw materials, with special processing for products containing naturally occurring rocks and minerals. Chemically prepared powders are also used for some ceramic products. The ceramic particles are formed into a desired shape using methods like extrusion, slip casting, pressing, tape casting, and injection molding. These "green" ceramics are then heat-treated to produce a rigid product. Some products, like electrical insulators, dinnerware, and tile, may undergo glazing or machining to meet specific engineering design criteria.

## ReferenceS

1. ↑ Ceramics overview - PubMed
2. ↑ Gresie, faianta baie, gresie exterior, faianta bucatarie, gresie interior
3. ↑ Ceramics: Definition, Properties, Types, and Applications - Xometry
4. ↑ Structure and properties of ceramics - The American Ceramic Society
5. ↑ Ceramic processing used to produce commercial products -washington.edu