General Characteristics of Ceramics

As a class, ceramics are hard, wear-resistant, brittle, prone to thermal shock, refractory, electrically and thermally insulative, intrinsically transparent. 

One of the main purposes of this book is to answer the question of why ceramics exhibit the properties they do. And while this goal will have to wait until later chapters, at this point it is worthwhile to list some of the applications for which ceramics have been or are being developed. 

Traditional ceramics are quite common, from sanitary ware to fine chinas and porcelains to glass products. Currently ceramics are being considered for uses that a few decades ago were inconceivable applications ranging from ceramic engines to optical communications, electrooptic applications to laser materials, and substrates in electronic circuits to electrodes in photoelectrochemical devices. Some of the recent applications for which ceramics are used and/or are prime candidates are listed in Table 1.1. 

These applications do not even include superconducting ceramics, currently being developed for myriad applications. 

Insulation High-temperature furnace linings for insulation (oxide fibers such as Si02, AI2O1), and ZrOi) 

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The general characteristics of ceramic phase diagrams are similar to those for metallic... 

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