IDD 205

INTRODUCTION TO TECHNICAL CERAMICS

Clay is a natural material created by weathered rock. It is soft, malleable and will permanently harden if
baked at high temperatures, making it a practical material for making tableware. There are three main
types of pottery/ceramic. These are earthenware, stoneware and porcelain.

Earthenware

Earthenware is clay fired at relatively low temperatures of between 1,000 to 1,150 degrees. This results
in a hardened but brittle material which is slightly porous (small holes through which liquid or air can go
through), therefore cannot be used to contain water. To remedy this, a glaze is used to cover the object
before it is fired in the kiln for a second time and rendered waterproof.

Stoneware

Stoneware is made from a particular clay which is fired at a higher temperature of 1,200°C. This results
in a more durable material, with a denser, stone-like quality. The finished product will be waterproof
and unlike earthenware, does not need to be glazed.

Porcelain

Porcelain comes from a refined clay which is fired at very high temperatures of approximately 1,200–
1,450°C. The result is an extremely hard, shiny material often white and translucent in appearance. The
earliest forms of porcelain originated in China around 1600BC and this association popularized the term
'fine china’, or bone china when the porcelain has had ground animal bone added to the clay, in order to
create an even more durable material.

Summary

1. The main points of comparison between Earthenware, Stoneware and Porcelain, will be the
temperature at which the clay is fired and the resulting strength, water resistance and durability
of the finished products.

2. The quality of the products will be dependant of the quality and purity of the clay that is used to
create them, but as a general rule, Stoneware and Porcelain will be the two more durable forms
of ceramic, which are commonly used as tableware at home.
Ceramics: Definition, Properties, Types, and Applications
Ceramics are a class of materials that humans have used for thousands of years. Applications range from
pottery to advanced aerospace components. They are valued for their hardness, strength, wear
resistance, electrical and thermal insulation, and chemical stability. In this article, we will provide a
comprehensive overview of ceramics, including their definition, properties, types, and applications.

What Are Ceramics?

Ceramics are a diverse group of materials that you’ll find in products such as: tiles, bricks, plates, glass,
and toilets. The term, “ceramic materials,” is a wide-ranging category largely defined by a lack of organic
substances (those based around carbon-hydrogen bonds) and metallic elements. Absent those
components, ceramics may be composed of: clay, minerals, oxides, and other compounds. Essentially,
ceramics are the materials that remain when we exclude organic and metallic materials.

Ceramics are refractory, meaning they are durable and can withstand high temperatures. They also
resist high pressures and most chemical compounds and are generally poor electrical conductors. Most
ceramics are non-magnetic. Some ceramics shatter easily, while others are very tough.

Ceramics are divided into two categories: traditional (like those found in pottery) and more modern
ceramics (advanced ceramics). Advanced ceramics are engineered to have specific properties. Many, for
example, are meant to be hard and durable. Ceramics are typically shaped at moderate temperatures
and then heated or “fired” at high temperatures to create hard, durable materials that resist heat, wear,
and corrosion. The material is considered to be ceramic once it is no longer soluble in water even if
heated.

It is important here to differentiate between water solubility and porosity. Some ceramics are still
porous, meaning that they will still absorb water, but they are not water-soluble. Ceramics can be found
in a wide variety of products and applications including: tiles, bricks, engineering ceramics used in
electronic devices, and aerospace components. Figure 1 is an example of familiar household ceramics:

Is Ceramics the Same as Pottery?

No, ceramics are not the same as pottery. The terms pottery and ceramics are sometimes used
interchangeably, but despite being related terms, they are not the same. Ceramics is an umbrella term
used for a wide range of materials and products. Pottery is simply one subdivision of ceramics.

It can be hard to define ceramics because it's such a broad term. Many substances can be classified as
ceramic, including, but not limited to cement and bricks. However, by definition, ceramic refers to a
material that is non-metallic and inorganic in nature.

Pottery, on the other hand, is simply a category of functional containers made of clay. Vessels like coffee
mugs, vases, or cereal bowls are classified as ceramic pottery. Pottery can also serve artistic purposes.
These items are considered to be the oldest forms of ceramics. That is why pottery is referred to as
traditional ceramics.
What Are Ceramics Made Of?

Ceramics are made of clay, earthen elements, powders, and water. These components are combined,
molded into the desired shape, and then fired or otherwise heated to finish the fabrication. The specific
types and proportions of materials involved can vary depending on the desired characteristics of the
ceramic product. For example, some ceramics may be made from pure clay while others may be
blended with additives such as feldspar or silica to enhance their properties. Advanced ceramics
intended for specialized applications may be made from more exotic materials such as tungsten carbide,
or zirconia.

What Are the Properties of Ceramics?

The properties of ceramics, like those of any material, depend on the types of atoms involved, the bonds
between them, and their arrangement. This atomic structure determines the material’s characteristics.
Ceramic materials tend to be:

1. Harder and more brittle than metals

2. Wear-resistant

3. Refractory

4. Good thermal and electrical insulators

5. Nonmagnetic

6. Oxidation-resistant

7. Chemically stable

Let’s consider the mechanical and chemical properties of ceramics in more detail below:

What Are the Mechanical Properties of Ceramics?

The mechanical properties of ceramics include:

1. Poor impact strength

2. High compressive strength

3. Extremely stiff and rigid structure with little or no yielding

4. The presence of microcracks can cause local stress concentrations and brittle fracture

5. Hardness and strength in compression, with a high softening temperature

6. Poor thermal shock resistance

7. Brittle nature
What Are the Chemical Properties of Ceramics?

Compared to most engineering materials, most ceramics are very chemically stable. They inherently
resist chemical reactions and corrosion. Ceramics are also generally inert and do not react with acids or
bases. However, the chemical properties can vary depending on the specific composition and type of
ceramic; some ceramics may be susceptible to corrosion or degradation under certain conditions while
others may be highly resistant to chemical attack. Additionally, certain ceramics exhibit unusual
chemical properties such as the ability to conduct electricity or act as catalysts. The general chemical
behavior of ceramics can be summarized as:

1. Mostly resistant to chemical attacks by gasses, liquids, and even high-temperature melts.

2. Generally inert and non-reactive with acids or bases.

What Are the Different Types of Ceramics?

Ceramics typically fall under two categories:

A. Traditional Ceramics/Pottery Ceramics: These are made from natural materials like feldspar,
quartz, or clay. Their structure depends on the composition of the clay which makes them more
imperfect compared to the uniform microstructure of advanced ceramics. Traditional ceramics
are manufactured by wet molding. They are mainly used in daily-use items and building
materials.

Pottery ceramics, otherwise referred to as traditional ceramics, can be divided into three categories:

1. Porcelain: Porcelain is made from a specific type of clay called kaolin, which is known for its fine
particle size and high plasticity. Porcelain is typically white or translucent in appearance. It is known for
its hardness, strength, and durability. It is fired at a high temperature, usually between 1200 and
1450 °C, which causes the clay to vitrify and become non-porous. Porcelain is often used for decorative
or fine art objects and practical items such as dinnerware, electrical insulators, and dental implants.

2. Stoneware: Stoneware ceramic materials are made from a mixture of clay and other materials such as
feldspar, quartz, and bone ash. It is typically fired at a high temperature (1200-1300 °C), which causes
the clay to become vitrified and non-porous. Stoneware is known for its strength, durability, and
resistance to chipping and scratching, and is often used for practical items such as dinnerware,
bakeware, and pottery.

3. Earthenware: Earthenware is made from clay and fired at a lower temperature than other types of
ceramics — typically below 1180 °C. This results in a porous material that is less durable than stoneware
or porcelain, but which has a unique, rustic appearance. Earthenware is often used for decorative
pottery, vases, and figurines, as well as for practical items such as flower pots and cookware. It can be
glazed or left unglazed and is often decorated with colored slips, underglazes, or painted designs.
 B. Technical Ceramics means/Advanced Ceramics: These use synthetic powders such as aluminum
oxide, silicon carbide, and silicon nitride. They are designed and engineered to have specific
properties for high-performance applications. Advanced ceramics are typically made from a
mixture of high-purity powders that are processed using specialized techniques to give the final
product unique properties such as high strength, toughness, wear resistance, high-temperature
stability, and chemical inertness. Each of these ceramics is known for its ability to serve specific
purposes, such as permeability, magnetism, insulation, and conductivity.

Many different materials and ceramic types fall under each of these categories (traditional and
advanced). We’ll discuss some of them in the sections below. For the purposes of this Course, we will
consider pottery as a traditional ceramic and compare it to advanced ceramics.

Some common types of advanced ceramics are listed below:

1. Silica: Silica (SiO2) is a material widely recognized for its remarkable thermal shock resistance and
leachability. It is a popular choice for aerospace and energy applications for the production of
investment casting shells and cores.

2. Tungsten Carbide: Tungsten carbide items are composed of tungsten carbide particles bonded with a
metal binder. The material is known for its ability to maintain its properties at high temperatures.
Tungsten carbide often gets mixed with high percentages of cobalt or nickel as a second metallic phase
to form materials known as "cermets." Pure tungsten carbide can also be produced as an advanced
technical ceramic using a high-temperature hot isostatic pressing process. This extremely hard and
wear-resistant material is used in cutting tools, abrasive water jet nozzles, and other applications where
strength and toughness are critical. However, its weight can limit its use in certain applications.

3. Fire Bricks: Fire bricks are made from a refractory material and get used to line high-temperature
furnaces, fireboxes, fireplaces, and kilns. They are typically made from a mixture of clay and other
materials and are designed to withstand extreme heat without cracking or breaking down. They also
exhibit low thermal conductivity so they naturally save energy. The refractory nature of these bricks
makes them ideal for applications that focus on heat resistance and durability. Fire bricks are used in a
wide variety of industrial applications, including steelmaking, glassmaking, and ceramics production.

4. Bone China: Bone china, also referred to as fine china, is a porcelain variety renowned for its strength,
chip resistance, and translucency. The material is composed of bone ash, kaolin, and feldspathic
material. It was first created by Josiah Spode, an English ceramicist, in the 1800s. Due to its superior
durability, bone china can be molded into thinner shapes than porcelain. It undergoes vitrification
during production, but its transparency results from differences in mineral properties. Bone china is
often used for fine dinnerware and decorative objects because of its elegant appearance and durability.

5. Silicon Carbide: Silicon carbide (SiC) is an advanced ceramic material known for its high wear
resistance and exceptional thermal conductivity. It is composed of silicon and carbon atoms. It is
typically produced by heating a mixture of sand (silicon dioxide) and petroleum coke (carbon) at high
temperatures. Due to its outstanding chemical resistance and high strength, SiC is an ideal choice for
thermal processing applications. This material is specifically used in advanced ceramic applications that
need a highly durable material with exceptional thermal conductivity. Specific examples include cutting
tools, abrasives, and semiconductor devices.

6. Titanium Carbide: Titanium carbide is a type of advanced ceramic that is used in cutting tools, wear-
resistant coatings, and other applications that require extreme strength and hardness. It is composed of
titanium and carbon atoms and is typically produced by heating a mixture of titanium dioxide and
carbon at high temperatures. Titanium carbide is known for having stable properties even at high
temperatures and in harsh environments.

7. Glass Ceramics: Glass-ceramics are composite materials with crystals embedded in a glassy matrix.
These advanced ceramics are made by heating glass to a high temperature and then cooling it rapidly to
form a crystalline material. This unique combination of amorphous and crystalline states makes for
customizable properties. Many varieties are especially known for their high strength, toughness, and
resistance to thermal shock.

They were initially developed for the mirrors and mounts of astronomical telescopes. Glass ceramics
have gained wider popularity, though, and are now found in everyday products such as cooktops,
cookware, bakeware, and high-performance reflectors for digital projectors.

WHAT IS A TECHNICAL CERAMIC?

An advanced ceramic material comprising principally a compound of aluminium and oxygen with or
without other minor components to aid densification or control properties. Ceramic materials are
inorganic and non-metallic. Usually they are shaped from the "green body" at room temperature and
acquire their typical properties during a sintering process at high temperatures.

Technical Ceramics means ceramic products made for technical application.

The use of technical ceramics in a large application field is justified by the diversity of properties offered
by materials used for parts manufacturing.

Examples of technical ceramic materials:

➢ Alumina AI203

➢ Silicon nitride Si3N4

➢ Zirconia Zr02

➢ Aluminium nitride AIN

➢ Magnesium oxide MgO

➢ Boron nitride BN
 ➢ Silicon carbide SiC

➢ Perovskites

➢ Mullite

➢ Cordierite

The choice of the material depends on properties it brings to the final part:

Thermal properties

Mechanical properties

Electric properties

There is also another range of materials used for parts asking less severe stress:

In accordance with their chemical composition the technical ceramic materials can be divided into main
groups:

✓ Supercomputers

Technical ceramics are used in manufacturing of components necessary for fast arithmetic processing.
The high rigidity of technical ceramics, as well as the coefficient of thermal expansion that is very close
to the coefficient of the mounting unit is what makes advanced ceramics ideal for such application.

✓ International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor uses rings made of high-purity technical
ceramics. The technical requirements of this project, which demands technology capable of insulating 1
million volts has been made possible through the use of technical ceramics.

✓ Semiconductor manufacturing equipment

Technical ceramics are very commonly used in the manufacturing of semiconductors, which we find in
the products we use every day, from TVs and smartphones to washing machines and refrigerators.
Without technical ceramics, the products we rely on on a daily basis would either not exist, or would
possess far fewer functions.

The production of Structural (tough and strong) ceramics is challenging, this is for the singular reason of
its inherent brittleness.

WHAT IS BRITTLENESS ? The property by virtue of which a material is fractured without appreciable
deformation.

Recent developments in materials technology have now made it possible to produce ceramics with
better physical (mechanical) and chemical (mineralogical) properties, useful in a broad spectrum of
fields of life. Technical ceramics has brought transformational toughening mechanism resulting in
improvement in both thermal and mechanical properties of ceramics.

Technical ceramics is fast becoming of choice in many 21 st century components for …

✓ Healthcare applications,

✓ Aeronautics and Electrical Electronics,

✓ Automobiles, Boat engines, Lawnmowers,

✓ Cell phones, Computers, Television, and

✓ Other consumer electronic products.

What Are the Different Technical/Advanced Applications of Ceramics?

Advanced ceramics have a wide range of applications in various industries. Some examples include:

Aerospace: Ceramics make up some high-temperature components such as turbine blades, heat shields,
and nose cones. Although these materials are hard to shape using conventional manufacturing methods,
3D printing is now being used to build aerospace parts out of ceramics.

Biomedical: Ceramics show up in medical implants due to their biocompatibility, strength, and wear
resistance.

Electronics: Electronic devices receive ceramic components because of the material’s electrical
insulation properties and ability to dissipate heat.

Energy: Ceramic materials are important to energy applications such as fuel cells, solar panels, and
thermal insulation due to their thermal stability and temperature resistance.
HOW IS 3D PRINTING BEING APPLIED TO CREATE AEROSPACE PARTS MADE FROM CERAMICS?

3D printing presents a potential way to create complex and detailed parts that cannot be achieved using
traditional machining or molding techniques. There are several 3D printing processes available for
ceramics, including stereolithography (SLA), selective laser sintering (SLS), material jetting, laminated
object manufacturing (LOM), and fused deposition modeling (FDM). Each process requires a different
form of ceramic feedstock. For example, SLA printers use ceramic slurry or paste as feedstock, which is a
mixture of photosensitive resins and ceramic powder. Ceramic components are built up by successive
layers using a laser to polymerize the paste, after which the parts are subjected to heat treatment for
debinding and densification.

Other related technologies that use ceramic pastes or slurries include direct light printing (DLP) and
lithography-based ceramic manufacturing (LCM) technology. A ceramic powder can also be used in
material jetting printers, while solid ceramic filament can be used for LOM and FDM. Of these processes,
stereolithography or related photopolymerization techniques are the most common because they can
achieve nice surface finishes. For more information, see our How Does 3D Printing Work guide.

What Are the Advantages of 3D Printing to Create Aerospace Parts from Ceramics?

Printing 3D aerospace parts has some distinct advantages over making them via conventional
manufacturing methods:

✓ Design Flexibility and Innovation: One of the key benefits of additive manufacturing is the ability
to create complex parts, geometric shapes, and patterns. This is more critical for ceramic
materials than others because these ceramics are more difficult to shape.

✓ Time and Cost Savings: Production using additive manufacturing is often cheaper and requires
less lead time than other methods.
 ✓ Replacement Parts with Better Properties: 3D-printed ceramic parts are now being used to
replace polymer or metal components. In some cases, the materials are selected not for their
properties, but because they are easier to shape using a printer.

✓ Material Availability and Environmental Impact: Ceramic materials are readily available, can be
locally sourced, and are environmentally friendly.

What Are Examples of 3D Printed Materials Made from Ceramics for Aerospace?

A few 3D-printed ceramic materials show up more often than others in aerospace components. Here are
some of the most common:

✓ Silica: Silica is known for its remarkable thermal shock resistance and leachability, making it a
popular choice for the investment casting of aerospace shells and cores.

✓ Alumina: This is a ceramic material with high stiffness and strength, excellent wear resistance,
and good chemical resistance. It is used in high-temperature electrical insulation, engine
components, and cutting tools.

✓ Silicon Nitride: This ceramic material has excellent thermal shock resistance, high strength, and
good toughness. Turbine blades, cutting tools, and wear-resistant parts get made from silicon
nitride.

✓ Zirconia: This is a ceramic material with high strength, toughness, and wear resistance. It is used
in cutting tools, thermal barrier coatings, and engine components.

✓ Glass-ceramics: These are formed by the controlled crystallization of glasses. They have good
mechanical properties, excellent thermal stability, and low thermal expansion. They are used in
applications such as optical components and high-temperature sensors.

Are 3D Printed Ceramics tested for Ductility?

No, 3D-printed ceramic parts are not usually tested for ductility. Ceramics are non-ductile in general and
therefore are not normally selected when a ductile 3D-printed part is required.

Are 3D Printed Ceramics tested for Brittleness?

Yes, 3D-printed ceramics are usually tested for brittleness. Ceramics are known for being brittle, so
printed parts need testing so engineers know they will meet their strength requirements. These tests
should be performed on the part itself, as the design of the part, as well as printing and material
parameters all play a role in the overall brittleness.
What Are the Benefits of 3D Printed Ceramics Over Metals?

3D-printed ceramics offer a unique combination of properties that make them attractive for various
aerospace, medical, and industrial applications. 3D printed ceramics are preferable to metals in several
regards:

✓ High-Temperature Resistance: Ceramics can withstand high temperatures without melting, even
at points where metals would lose their strength and shape.

✓ Lightweight: Ceramics are generally lighter per unit volume than metals, which is beneficial in
industries like aviation where weight is a concern.

✓ Corrosion Resistance: Unlike many metals that oxidize quickly, ceramics are highly resistant to
corrosion.

What Are the Advantages of 3D Printed Ceramics Compared to Plastics?

3D printed ceramics have the following advantages over plastics:

Higher Temperature Resistance: Ceramics can withstand much higher temperatures than plastics
without degrading.

✓ Superior Strength and Durability: Ceramics are generally stronger and more durable than
plastics.

✓ Better Chemical Resistance: Ceramics are less likely to react with chemicals than plastics.

✓ Longer Lifespan: Ceramics are more durable and have a longer life expectancy than plastics.