Ceramics

The term Ceramics covers inorganic, nonmetallic, solid materials that have been hardened by baking at a high temperature. The most important of these were the traditional clays, made into pottery, dinnerware, tiles. And advanced ceramics have been prepared and are being used for a wide range of applications, including components used by the automotive, defense, environmental, fiber-optic, and medical technologies. For example Barium titanate (often mixed with strontium titanate), which has properties called Ferro electricity and piezoelectricity, is widely used in electromechanical devices known as transducers, as well as in ceramic capacitors and data storage elements. Ceramics have high hardness, high compressive strength, and chemical inertness. All ceramics can be assigned to one of three basic categories, depending on what type of clay is used and the temperature at which it is fired: earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain. The bonding in ceramics are very strong either ionic or network covalent. Many adopt crystalline structures, but some form glasses. The properties of the materials are a result of the bonding and structure. Ceramic materials are used in electronics technology because depending on their composition, they may be semiconducting, superconducting, ferroelectric, or an insulator.

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