Ceramic Raw Materials

Ceramics are nonmetallic inorganic materials which can be oxide, carbide, or nitride. Certain elements like silicon or carbon can be referred to as ceramics. Ceramic materials have the characteristic of being brittle, hard, compressive in strength, and weak in tension and shearing. Ceramic materials resist chemical erosion that takes place in other materials due to exposure to acidic or caustic atmospheres. Ceramics in general can tolerate extremely high temperatures between 1,000 °C and 1,600 °C (1,800 °F to 3,000 °F).

Conventional ceramic raw materials are clay minerals like kaolinite, while more advanced material includes aluminum oxide, otherwise referred to as alumina. Silicon carbide and tungsten carbide are modern ceramic materials that fall under the category of advanced ceramics. Both are prized for their wear resistance and are thus employed in applications like the wear plates of crusher equipment in mining applications. Advanced ceramics also find applications in the medical, electrical, electronics, and body armor industries.

Ceramics are classified as inorganic and nonmetallic materials that are essential to our daily lifestyle. Ceramic and materials engineers are the people who design the processes in which these products can be made, create new types of ceramic products, and find different uses for ceramic products in everyday life.

Ceramics are all around us. This category of materials includes things like tile, bricks, plates, glass, and toilets. Ceramics are also present in items such as watches (quartz tuning forks-the devices that keep watches ticking), snow skies (piezoelectric-ceramics that strain when an electric voltage is imposed upon them), cars (sparkplugs and ceramic components of engines present in racing cars), and telephone lines. They are also present on space shuttles, household appliances (enamel coverings), and aircraft (nose cones). 

Depending on their mode of formation, ceramics may be dense or porous. They usually exhibit good strength and hardness properties but are usually brittle in nature. Ceramics may also be shaped to be electrically conductive materials, objects that permit electricity to travel through their mass, or insulators, materials that do not allow the travel of electricity. Certain ceramics, such as superconductors, also exhibit magnetic properties. 

Ceramics are typically produced by shaping mixtures of clay, earth elements, powders, and water into desired shapes. After the ceramic has been shaped, it is fired in a high temperature furnace called a kiln. Ceramics are often topped with decorative, water-repellent, paint-like materials called glazes.