RESILIENT-TUTORIALS
AMIE SECTION A
(AD-302)
MATERIALS SCIENCE
AND
ENGINEERING
Ch12 Ceramic Materials
RESILIENT-TUTORIALS
OUTSIDE SHERAN WALA GATE
PATIALA-147001(PUNJAB) INDIA
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Mobile no: 85910-10897[AD-302 Materials Science and Engineering
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Classification of cerai
12.3 Ceramic structures
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Chapter12
Ceramic Materials
12.1 Introduction
The word ‘ceramic’ derives from the Greek *keramos’, which means ‘burnt stuff or pottery. In facts ceramics date from
before the ancient Greeks, making them the oldest man made materials. House bricks, earthenware pots and porcelain eups are
everyday examples of the use ofthese traditional ceramic materials
Basically Ceramic materials are inorganic, non-metallic materials that consists of metallic and non-metallic elements
bounded together primarily by ionie and /or covalent bonds. Since there are many possible combinations of metallic and non-
‘metallic atoms and there may be several structural arrangement of each combination, a wide range of ceramic materials are
found to occur and used as very useful engineering materials
‘The properties of ceramic materials also vary greatly due to differences in bonding. In general, ceramic materials are
‘ypically hard and britle with low toughness and duetiity. Ceramics are usually good electrical and thermal insulators because
of the absence of conduction electrons. Ceramic materials normally have relatively high melting temperatures and high chemical
stability in many hostile environments because of the stability of their strong bonds. One of these outstanding characteristics of
ceramic materials is stability at relatively high temperatures. Many of them retain strength to much higher temperature than
metals, Despite the generally excellent high temperature strength, many of ceramics are susceptible to thermal shock. Porous
ceramics (for thermal insulation) are resistant to thermal shock, whereas the same ceramic in dense form for structural use may
be susceptible. Because of these properties, ceramic materials are indispensable for many engineering designs.
‘New uses are continually being found for these materials, and in recent years ceramic materials have been used even as,
lubricants (molybdenum disulphide) and fuels (uranium oxide for the nuclear reactor and boron hydride for solid propellant
rockets), Most of the ceramic materials are silicates, aluminates, oxides, carbides, nitrides or hydrides. Advanced ceramics also
‘originate from raw materials mined or quarried from the earth (clays, sands, ete.) and processed at high temperatures, but they
are being used at the leading edge of technology. New ceramics have dramatically extended the operating limits for use in
applications such as heat-resistant bricks for furnaces, but they have also found new applications, e.g. tiles forthe space shuttle,
fibers and laser sources for optical communications and components for the high-temperature end of next-generation aircraft
engines. In the rapidly expanding fields of medical and biomedical engineering, ceramics have found uses as strong,
biocompatible, wear-resistant implants, and even as radiotherapy media-iradiated glass spheres, a few tens of microns in size,
can be targeted precisely on the tumor under attack.
12.2 Classification of ceramic materials
A general classification of the ceramic products is difficult because of the great versatility of these materials. Ceramic
‘materials used for engineering applications can be divided into four groups,
|. Naturally occurring ceramics include natural rocks and their products such as gravel, sand, clay ete. most of the
rocks contain silica, alumina, and oxides of sodium, calcium magnesium, iron, titanium etc. other ceramic materials
are clay, quartz, mica, granite, dolerite, sand stones, pebble of various size, limestone, caleium carbonate, Out of this
‘granite, dolerite and quartz are very hard materials,
2. Ceramies, produced from minerals by the action of heat are called clay products. They form important class of
‘engincering materials e.g. bricks, mortar, tiles, porcelain, cement, glass china ware, lime, gypsum, plaster etc.
3. Refractory ceramic materials can withstand action of heat without appreciable softening, have high melting point.
‘These include fire clay and high alumina clay. The most commonly used refractory materials are based on alumina
silica composition-other refractory materials are dolomite, zircon, magnesite, silicon carbide. Refractory materials
posses high melting point high thermal shock resistance, high wear resistance, high hardness, high thermal
conductivities, high chemical resistance and low thermal expansion.
4. Glass ceramic materials usually contain magnesium or lithium ions. Silica is ideal glass forming material which has
high melting point. They are hard and have greater impact strength. They soften at very high temperature. Ceramic
glasses are non-porous. Different types of glasses are available such as pure silica glass (99.8% Sio;), soda lime glass
(Na:0, CaO, 6 Si0;), lead glass (15-30% PbO) ete.
12.3 Ceramic Structures:
Because ceramics are composed of at least two elements, their erystal structures are generally more complex than those
for metals. The atomic bonding in these materials ranges from purely ionic to totally covalent; many ceramics exhibit a
combination of these two bonding types, the degree of ionic character being dependent on the electro-negativity of the atoms.
Two characteristics of the component ions in crystalline ceramic materials influence the erystal structure; the magnitude
of the electrical charge on each of the component ions, and the relative sizes of the cations and anions. With regard to the first
characteristic, the erystal must be electrically neutral; that is all the cation positive charges must be balanced by an equal number
of anion negative charges.
‘The second criterion involves the sizes or ionic radii of the captions and anions, r, and fy, respectively. Stable ceramic
crystal structures form when anions surrounding cation are all in contact with that cation, as illustrated in figure 12.1
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