ABOUT CERAMICS

The word "ceramics" comes from the Greek word keramos, meaning "burnt earth." Glass, a supercooled liquid with an amorphous molecular structure, is sometimes classified as a ceramic. The most common industrial ceramic is aluminum oxide, also know as alumina (chemical formula Al2O3). Ceramics are inorganic materials, which means they do not contain carbon and are extracted from mineral sources. Ceramics are crystal structures made of metallic ions. Bonding is either partially or completely ionic.

For many years, ceramics were clay-based materials, but have been developed in recent history to include crystalline solids composed of metallic and nonmetallic materials. These ceramic materials possess highly engineered microstructures (little or no porosity, fine grain size, and high purity) and useful properties for industry (high strength, toughness, hardness, and tailored electrical properties).

When the word ceramic is mentioned, we immediately think of such products as pottery, sanitaryware, whiteware, tiles, table china, etc. Advanced ceramics such as oxides, carbides, and nitrides are relatively unknown materials because they are not visibly present in our daily lives, but offer great value to industry nonetheless. Click here to see a list of industrial applications that benefit from the properties of industrial ceramics.